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THE CLERGY 



SOURCE OF DANGER 



American Republic 



J 



By W. F. JAMIESON. 



" By being a good Churchman, a person might become a bad citizen." — Fox's 
Speech in the House o/ Covunons^ Pari. Hist.^ Vol, xxix,^ j>. 1377. 

" The king, [George III,] on every occasion, paid a court to the clergy." '' He was, 
therefore, sure of their support, and they zealously aided him in every attempt to 
oppress the Colonies." — Buckle's History of Civilization z'« England^ Vol. iyp. 343. 

"During almost a hundred and fifty years, Europe was afflicted by religious wars, 
religious massacres, and religious persecutions ; not one of which would have arisen, 
if the great truth had been recognized, that the state has no concern with the opin- 
ions of men, and no right to interfere, even in the slightest degree, with the form of 
worship which they may choose to adopt." — Btickle' s History,^ p. 190. 



CHICAGO^ *"'" '^'"' ' ' ^ 

PUBLISHED BY W. F. JAMIESON, 1 39 AND I4I MONROE STREET. 

1873. 



ll 



i 



■^"^ i-i^^-% 



8l 



34pO ^ ^ 



Entered 


according 


to Act of Congress, in 


the year 1871 


by 








W. F. JAMIESON, 






In 


the o 


ffice of the Librarian of Congress 


at Washington. 



i.Vq ancl 141 Monroe Street. 



MARDER, LUSE & CO. 

ELECTROTYPERS, 

139 and 141 Monroe Street. 



/?/ 



-^i 



TO THE FRIENDS OF 



CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 



The dangers of a religious form which threaten free 
American Institutions, need to be known. PubHc 
attention should everywhere be aroused to a sense of 
their growing magnitude. The citizens of the United 
States will be enabled to discover, as they examine 
the question carefully, that the clergy are against 
religious and political equality; opposed to freedom 
o" speech and freedom of the press, and in favor of 
Clerical Empire. The Clergy aim to subvert all gov- 
ernments to their own despotic sway. Christianity is 
not only foreign but antagonistic to American liberty. 
Either Christianity or a people's free government must 
fall! Which shall it be? 

Within nine years the Christian God-in-the-Consti- 
tution Movement has assumed frightful proportions. 
For several years the author has warned his fellow 
citizens of the impending religious war in America. 

To deliver the people from the night-mare of Super- 
stition, and the bondage of Priest-craft ; to avert, if 
possible, the calamity of clerical rule in the Am.erican 
Union, and with the earnest hope that it may be 
** nipped in the bud," this book has been written. 



INDEX. 



I.— AMERICA'S FOES. 

PAGE. 

Civil Liberty In Danger, 9 

America's Worst Enemies, 10 

Powerful Influence of the Clergy, 11 

Protestant Jealousy of the Catholics, 13 

War Against Infidels Threatened, 17 

The Constitution as a Religious Creed, __ 20 

First Amendment was on Religion, 24 

Thomas Jefferson's Opinion of the Clergy, _. 27 

II.— THE GREAT QUESTION. 

Christian Logic, 30 

Discussion on the Question, 32 

Making Nations and Steam Engines, 33 

Christian France and Christian Prussia, 34 

The Nation as a Person, 35 

God Angry if not Recognized, 41 

Religion to be Ignored for the Benefit of All, 43 

Powers of Government from God or the People, 45 

III.— POLITICS AND RELIGION. 

Corruption of Politics, 47 

Religion More Corrupting than Politics, .- 48 

Family Government Despotic, 52 

Government is not a Church, 54 

Open Avowal of Christ Demanded, 55 

God and Nations, 56 

Divorce of Politics and Religion God-Dishonoring, 56 

Variant Views on the Sabbath Question, 63 

IV.— GOVERNMENT : HUMAN OR DIVINE. 

Logic of Christianity in Favor of Constitutional Recognition of God, 65 

Origin of Civil Government, __ 67 

Object of Civil Government, 68 

Historical View, 69 

Instability of the Will of the People, _ 71 

God's Government and Man's Government, 72 

Intolerance and Persecution, _ __ 74 

True Position of Government, 79 



6 INDEX. 

V.-AN "AMBASSADOR OF GOD." 

A Chrislian Goliath, 8i 

Blackstone on Reason, 83 

Christianity Part of the Law of the Land, 83 

Bible Has Not Burnt Heretics,.'. 84 

Satan Turned Democrat, 86 

United States Constitution Lifidelic, ... g2 

Good Men Fear Union of Church and State, 93 

No Intention to Coerce Conscience, 95 

Fair Type of American Clergy, 98 

Catholic Church Has Not Burnt Heretics, 100 

Christ's Worship Enforced, 100 

Christianity Not a Part of the Law of the Land, 102 

VL— OUR COUNTRY OR RELIGION : WHICH ? 

Christian Address to the Voting Citizens, 104 

Patriotism and Religion, 105 

Holy War, 107 

America's Prosperity Without Religion, no 

Sunday Laws, and Prayers in Congress and the Legislatures Should 

Be Abolished, 1 in 

Apparent Harmlessness of the Proposed Religious Amendment, 113 

Hundreds of Thousands of Christians will Favor God in the Consti- 
tution, ... 114 

Distinguished Citizens Committed to the Movement, 115 

Religion Arrayed Against the State, 119 

VIL— CLERICAL EMPIRE. 

Church Union the Basis of Union of Church and State, 123 

Protestants Gravitating Toward Roman Catholicism, 125 

Protestant Nuns, 126 

" The Imperialist," 133 

Religious Alliances, 139 

VIII.— ORIGIN, EXTENT AND PROGRESS OF THE POLITI- 
CAL GOD RECOGNITION. 

Free Inquiry Dangerous to Christianity, 142 

Only Christians Eligible to Congress, 147 

Men Who Travel on Sunday Unfit for Official Position, 149 

Political Praying, 152 

New York Tribune Sounds an Alarm, 153 

Priests not all Enemies to Liberty, 160 

Rev. H. W. Beecher against the Movement, 161 

Rev. Dr. Bellows against it, 162 

" We Must Be on the Watch !" 164 

The Clergy's Attack on Free Institutions, 165 

Liberty, not Religion, the Demand of the Age, 166 

IX.— THE CLERGY AND OUR COMMON SCHOOLS. 

Religion the Disturbing Element of Free Schools, 167 

Union of Religion with the Free School the Same in Principle as 

Union of State and Church, 168 



INDEX. 7 

A Mighty Conflict Inevitable, i68 

Daily Religious Instruction Demanded by both Catholics and Prot- 
estants, 1 70 

■Catholic Children Between Two Fires, 174 

Those Sixteen Pious Mothers, 175 

The Clergy Propose to Convert Infants, 178 

Forcing Christian Dogmas into Schools, 179 

The Clergy Willing to Sacrihce a Million Lives, and Countless treas- 
ure, to Retain the Bible in School, 180 

The School War, 183 

X.— THE BIBLE, OR THE "GODLESS" CONSTITUTION OF 
THE UNITED STATES? 

■*' Heathenish " Constitution, 188 

Bible Laws, igo 

Sensitiveness of the Clergy on the Sabbath Question, 193 

No Sabbath, No Clergy, _• 194 

The Bible Against Woman, 194 

Jesus Christ Against Marriage, 199 

The Bible in Favor of Polygamy, . 200 

The Bible and the Temperance Question, 201 

The Constitution Promotes the General Welfare, 204 

The Constitution Insures Domestic Tranquillity, 205 

The Constitution Insures the Blessings of Liberty to Ourselves and 

Our Posterity, 206 

The Bible against Republics and in Favor of Kingdoms, 209 

XL— GOD'S CHARACTER. 

For Leading Traits see Entire Chapter, 211 

XIL— SHALL WE ELECT JESUS? 

Jesus on Oaths, 220 

Jesus on Prayer, 220 

Good Advice, but not new, 220 

Divorce Law of the New Testament, 220 

Jecus Taught that to Become Divorced and to Re-Marry is Adultery, 222 

" Resist Not Evil " Tested, 223 

The Beatitudes Examined, 224 

XIIL— THE RICH CHRISTIAN. 

Poverty and Heaven, 229 

Love of Wealth, 232 

Anxious Thought for To-Morrow, 233 

Forsaking all Earthly Treasure, 235 

Who Are Christ's Followers? 237 

No Rich Man Can Ever Enter Heaven, 238 

Jesus Christ's Teachings Not the Cause of Civilization, 241 

That Camel in the Needle's Eye, 242 

XIV.— THE " SANCTIFIED." 

The "Sanctified" in Office, 244 

Not as Other Men Are, 246 



b INDEX. 

" Highly Respectable " — as usual, _ 247 

The Shepherd and His Sheep, 248' 

Pious Lying not a " Lost Art," 250 

" Hush !" 257 

** Holy Petting," 258 

The Church a " City of Refuge," 264 

Miserable Sinners, 264 

The Pious Doctor, 266 

Clerical Lothario, 270 

Handsome Young Ladies, 271 

Platch on Preachers, - 273 

Parson Brownlow on Preachers, 276 

The Preacher and Numerous Farmers' Daughters, 279 

Clerical Scandals, 288 

Temptations of the Clergy, 291 

" Alone and Unmolested," 293 

" Deadly Doing," 295 

Bad Effects of Sunday Schools, 296 

Christianity a Stupendous Failure, . 298 

XV.— IS THIS A FALSE ALARM ? 

The Increasing Power of the Christian Movement, 301 

Testimony by F. E. Abbot, Editor of the Index, 302 

The Nation's Existence Threatened, 304. 

The '* Counter Petition," Excitement Inaugurated by Abbot, 306 

Earnest Work and Liberal Donations by Christians to secure 

Success, 309 

Christians Threaten War, 311 

Senator Charles Sumner in Sympathy with Liberals, 313, 

Four-fifths of the Christians of America in Favor of the Union of 

Church and State, 317 

XVL— WHY THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION IS 
GODLESS. 

The Clergy's Power Incompatible with Freedom, 32 r 

The Clergy Stifle Free Inquiry, 321 

Protestant Persecutors, 322. 

The Diffusion of Knowledge, and not Religion, the Cause of Civiliza- 
tion, 323. 

Religion, Liberty's Worst Enemy, 325 

Religion Opposed to Progress, 326 

Religion Opposed to Free Speech, 326' 

The Insolent Bishop, 326 

The Clergy Always on the Side of Tyranny, 326 

The Founders of the American Republic Divested Religion of all 

Power in the State, 329 

The Ministers Striving to Retrieve a "Lost Cause," 329 

Influence of the Clergy Against Self-Rule, 330 

Fear of Religion Manifested by the Framers of the Constitution, 330- 

Right of the People to Secure a Godless Constitution and Secular 

Government, 331 

Let Us Keep Our Country Free, 33L 



THE CLERGY 
A SOURCE OF DANGER 

'J'O THE 

American Republic 



AMERICA S FOES. 



" Our fathers came and planted fields, 

And manly Law, and schools and truth ; 

They planted Self-Rule, which we'll guard 

By word and sword, in age, in youth." 

— Francis Lieber. 

Religious despotism is arrayed against American freedom. 
Americans are over-confident in the strength of their gov- 
ernment. The present feeling of security among the masses 
of the people tends to the success of the schemes concocted 
by the foes of civil and religious liberty. The assurance 
which passes from mouth to mouth, that there is no danger to 
the nation from the plotting of a few weak and misguided 
clergymen, is fraught with evil to our nation. The work of 
the clergy — America's inveterate foes — is adroitly planned. 
If their plot succeeds there will be an end to liberty of con- 
science in the American Union. Justice, domestic tranquil- 
lity and the general welfare will be sacrificed to Christian 



lO THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

despotism. If Christianity ever becomes the established 
religion of the United States of America, more than forty 
thousand Christian priests will then fatten at the national 
crib. They will be " sustained and supported" by a Con- 
gress composed of Christians. The clergy are aiming to 
accomplish all this, as I will show. Liberty's price — eternal 
vigilance — is not paid. The people say, " Never was our 
nation stronger than at this moment ; it has passed through 
a fiery trial, the late rebellion, and become mightier than 
when it entered it." That is all true, but it was in danger, 
nevertheless. Before the breaking out of the rebellion the 
remark was common, " O ! there will be no war. The peo- 
ple of America are too enlightened in this age to shed each 
other's blood." We all know how vain were those expres- 
sions. Many who will read these pages will, no doubt, ex- 
claim in a similar spirit of over-confidence, " Religious war- 
fare is at an end ; there is no danger of Church-and-State 
union ; it is impossible to incorporate the name of God in 
the Constitution of the United States." 

A still less thoughtful class say, "What if the name of 
God is put into the Constitution 1 Will it do any harm .? " 

It can be shown that religious warfare is not at an end ;* 
that there is great danger of Church-and-State union ; that 
it is possible to incorporate the name of God in the Con- 
stitution of the United States, and, lastly, if the name of 
God is thus incorporated, civil and religious liberty in Amer- 
ica will be, for the time being, overthrown. 

Notwithstanding the strength of our nation it is threat- 
ened by greater, more insidious foes than ever gnawed at its 
vitals — the clergy. They are America's worst enemies, 
worse than slave-holders ever were, more dangerous to civil 
and religious liberty, and more unprincipled in their attacks 

"'* This was written several months previous to the conflict between the 
Orangemen and Catholics in New York city, on the I2th of July, 1871. 
Both Catholics and Protestants have yet to learn that this country does 
not belong exclusively to either or both ; but they will not be convinced 
of the fact without the shedding of blood. 



AMERICA S FOES. II 

upon it. He has read history to Uttle profit who does not 
know that Christians, as Christians, cannot be trusted with 
civil power. 

To-day this country is in a similar condition religiously 
that it was politically at the time of firing upon Fort Sump- 
ter. Then there was little or no apprehension of a war, and 
most of the means of power, forts, arsenals, etc., were in the 
hands of those who undertook to destroy the Union. Now 
the means of power — institutions of learning, including our 
common schools, the church property exempt from taxation, 
and millions of money, besides, rapidly accumulating, are in 
possession of Christians. So completely is this nation con- 
trolled by the clergy and their satellites that a protest in 
almost any school district against the outrageous Bible-read- 
ing practice in school is met with ill-concealed derision from, 
or the pious disgust of, the Christian portion of community. 
The clergy are the natural enemies of a purely democratic 
form of government, a form which recognizes no power 
higher than the will of the people. Self-government and 
Christianity are incompatible. Christianity wars against the 
natural, inalienable right of the people to rule themselves. 
It does not believe in the people. It distrusts them. It 
claims to be superior to them. A truly democratic or repub- 
lican government has no God. It is a government of the 
23eople, by the people, and for the people. Christianity 
means a government of Gods, kings and queens, lords and 
ladies, against the people. It is theocratic. Human gov- 
ernment means freedom. Christian government, in whatever 
guise it appears, is pure despotism. Christianity is grasping 
for power to enable it to destroy this Republic, which it con- 
siders too American, too human, and seeks to substitute for 
the government of the people a government of God — a 
Christian Empire ! For several years there has been a deeply 
laid plan by Christians to overturn the principle to which 
our nation owes its existence, namely, " Governments are 
instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the 
consent of the governed." The ideal divine government 



12 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

conceived by the clergy is diametrically opposed to this. 
They despise and denounce the principle of self-govern- 
ment, asserting that the consent of the people as to whether 
God shall govern them is rebellion against him. The Jef- 
fersonian idea is that the people are the source of power. 
This the Christians pronounce anti-Christian and infidelic, 
and so it is. They imagine they can render no greater ser- 
vice to God than to destroy the principle of self-rule. For 
this purpose they have a national association of Christians, 
and several State Christian organizations, all working for the 
overthrow of America's free institutions. The Movement 
is not, as too many suppose, an insignificant one. It is 
assuming gigantic proportions, and is constantly increasing in 
popularity among Christian people. It is not confined to a 
few misguided clergymen. Politicians are enlisted, who for 
the sake of position and plunder will lend their influence to 
any scheme however nefarious; though it be, as in this case, 
to stab to death religious freedom. (^The sense of security 
felt by the American people in the perpetuity of their nation 
is the opiate which lulls to sleep all fear of serious conse- 
quences from clerical interference in civil affairs, j The dec- 
larations and demands of thousands of Christians already 
engaged in this religious combination is the best answer that 
can be given to the question. Is there any danger ? 

Tuesday morning, June 27, 1871, I open the Chicago 
Tribmie which contains the following : 

The Dubuque Herald has dug up and published the fol- 
lowing letter from Rev. J. P. Newman, pastor of the Metro- 
politan Methodist Church of Washington, D. C, addressed 
to the leading Methodist clergymen of Iowa, in behalf of the 
re-election of Senator Harlan. It is said that the letter has 
created some excitement in the politico-religious circles in 
the Hawkey e State : 

[confidential.] 

Washington, D. C, April 25, 1871. 

Dear Brother : As a mutual friend, I drop you a few 
earnest words in behalf of Senator Harlan's re-election to 



AMERICA S FOES. I3 

the United States Senate. You know the importance of 
early and earnest action. The members elected to the next 
Legislature elect the Senator. It is, therefore, necessary 
that the right man be nominated, and hence, attention must 
be given to the primary meetings, 

I am glad to say to you that Senator Harlan is regular in 
his attendance on church, and his influence is in the right 
direction, I know personally that he stands high with the 
administration, and has influence with the President, and is 
held in high esteem by his fellow-Senators. His speech on 
San Domingo has given him an elevation few Senators enjoy. 
Hoping that you will in all suitable ways interest yourself for 
Mr. Harlan, I am truly yours, J. P. Newman. 

There is a specimen of the wire-pulling that is steadily 
going on. The political warfare of the Christians will not be 
an open one if they can help it. They will avoid discussion 
and agitation in every form, unless they are assured that the 
"proper " sentiment will turn in their favor. " Senator Har- 
lan is regular in his attendance on church." That is an 
essential qualification for holding office, according to the plan 
of Christian politicians. The omens in the politico-religious 
heavens foretell the gathering storm. The liberal forces will 
co-operate with any party that will throw itself against the 
Christian politicians who are striving to ride into civil power, 
in order to rule the nation as they now control the common 
schools of the country. The plotting of Christian bigots is 
still successful, and they are using every means, honest and 
dishonest, to promote the glory of the church militant. The 
Protestant church will use the Republican party to accom- 
plish its diabolical scheme of uniting Church and State. The 
Christian religion has forced itself into American politics 
and must take the consequences, ^he Christian political 
party, which makes its jealousy of Catholic rule in this coun- 
try a pretext for a right to exist, will eventually unite with 
that powerful Catholic Church, on the plea that Christianity 
in any form, is preferable to infidelityV Protestant Chris- 
tians of America favor the triumph of the Papal priesthood 
in France over the French Communists who more nearly 



14 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

represent the American idea of self-government than does 
any sect of Christians. 

To uproot the infidel principle of government in this coun- 
try the clergy propose, through the powerful influence of the 
pulpit, and the still mightier influence of the press, to pre- 
pare popular sentiment to receive an idea at present repug- 
nant to every true American — the incestuous union of Church 
and State, the bane of the old world, and the prolific parent 
of every conceivable form of despotism. Already have they 
begun to undermine the confidence of Americans in the 
grandeur of their free institutions, by heaping anathema and 
reproach upon the memory of our Revolutionary fathers^ 
because they, in laying the foundations of American liberty, 
were guided by human wisdom instead of Jewish and Chris- 
tian tradition. Says E. R. Craven, D. D., one of the leaders 
in this religious revolution, in an article published in the 
Christian Siaiesman^ the organ of the National Association, 
Philadelphia, Pa., March 2, 1868 : 

"The subject proposed for consideration is, certainly, one 
of the most important that can engage the attention of 
Americans. It is with great hesitation, however, that the 
writer enters upon its discussion. He reveres the memory 
of the Fathers of the Republic for their moral excellence, 
their exalted wisdom, their self-sacrificing patriotism, and 
many of them for their true piety ; and he esteems the Con- 
stitution they framed as one of the noblest products of hu- 
man skill. It was with great difficulty he could bring him- 
self to believe that there is an important defect in their great 
work, and it is with still greater difficulty that he now pre- 
sumes to point out to others what he regards as the error. 
This he Avould scarce dare to do, had not many of the best 
and wisest of his countrymen preceded him in calling atten- 
tion to the same defect." 

What is the defect 1 The name of God is not once men- 
tioned in the Constitution of the United States ! This omis- 
sion has caused the clergy long and bitter lamentation. Be- 
cause of this "insult to God " J. H. Mcllvaine, Professor of 



AMERICA S FOES. 1 5 

Political Science, in Princeton College, calls the fundamental 
law of the land a "godless Constitution." * 

Rev. Mr. Craven, acknowledges that he would scarce dare 
to attack "one of the noblest products of human skill," the 
Constitution, if he had not the example of " many of the best 
and wisest [?] of his countrymen." By " best and wisest " 
he means his fellow-clergymen ! 

What do they propose to do to remedy this "defect.^" 
The Rev. Mr. Craven answers, that it cannot be " supple- 
mented by any means short of the correction of the instrument 
itself y Thus, they demand an amendment which shall over- 
throw our nia^na-charta^ and erect upon the ruins of our 
rights and privileges a spiritual despotism. Thousands of 
petitions, praying for a change which shall recognize God in 
the Constitution, are circulated among the people, and 
numerously signed. The clergy declare that it is highly neces- 
sary that God should be thus recognized ; for, unless it is 
done, he is dishonored, on account of which dishonor he will 
" break through " and visit the nation based upon a " god- 
less " thing with " utter destruction." This threat frightens 
thousands of simple souls who are in the churches, and a few 
outside. E. R. Craven, D. D., says this terrible calamity 
will ensue unless God is honored by the proposed amend- 
ment. 

In the first place, the clergy recommend that the Preamble 
l)e amended so as to explicitly acknowledge Almighty God 
as the Source of all authority and power in civil government. 
It is not enough, in their judgment, to have a constitution 
which was ordained to form a more perfect union than ever 
existed in the shape of government, and by means of which 
justice could be established, tranquillity ensured, the common 
defence of all citizens provided for, and their general welfare 
promoted. These blessings do not satisfy the clergy. The 
"general welfare" is too common. It takes away special 
favors, and places the clergy on the mean level with the rest 
of mankind. The " divines " want advantages over others. 

" CJmstian Statesman, Feb. 15, 1S68. 



l6 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

who happen to think differently from themselves about the 
things of this life, and more especially concerning the affairs 
of the next. They want the constitution " reformed " into 
a creed, and the government remodeled into a huge Chris- 
tian Church, whose officers shall be Christians supported at 
the public expense, supported by the toiling millions whom 
God made on purpose to labor and to glorify him and his 
faithful ambassadors on earth (!) — especially the ambassadors. 
This scheme of the clergy to turn the government into a 
church eclipses the idea of a magnificent empire conceived 
by Aaron Burr. 

Christians propose for insertion, after the words, " We the 
people," these : " Humbly acknowledging Almighty God as 
the source of all authority and power in civil government, 
the Lord Jesus Christ as the ruler among the nations, and 
his revealed will as of supreme authority, in order to consti- 
tute a Christian government," after which the balance of the 
preamble will follow in its present form„ Our constitution 
already assures us union, justice, tranquillity, the greatest 
good to the greatest number. This is too liberal for our 
clerical friends. According to their nomenclature, "equal 
rights " is only another name for infidelity. 

If we will permit them to have their way about this mat- 
ter they offer to take us under their protection. Prof. Mcll- 
vaine puts in a strong claim, and invites us to " walk into 
my parlor." Hear him : 

" We claim it as an inalienable right, and hold ourselves 
under the most sacred of all obligations, to govern ourselves 
in a Christian manner. But we cannot do this while we 
leave God out of our government. We dishonor and insult 
him, and draw upon our heads his just displeasure, and all 
those calamities from which we are now suffering. The right 
of the nation to acknowledge its God is as sacred and inal- 
ienable as the right of the individual to do it. We say there- 
fore to all objectors, you must not touch this right. We will 
not constrain your consciences. We will not touch your 
religious beliefs. We will protect you as ourselves in your 
inalienable civil right to worship God or not, as you judge 
best But when you take the ground that this nation shall 



AMERICA S FOES. I 7 

■not acknowledge God, because you as individuals do not 
believe in Him, you are unreasonable. You cannot be 
gratified. You may set your hearts at rest upon this point. 
For we Avill defend this right of our nation with our property, 
our lives, and our sacred honor. Necessity is laid upon us 
to do it." 

The last few sentences have the ring of a " declaration of 
war." The gentlemen engaged in this movement are in 
earnest. Indeed the clergy, as a profession, are remarkable 
for zeal and great tenacity of purpose. They believe it to 
be their duty to acknowledge God, though it involve the de- 
struction of republican government. There is a government 
which, to them, is of far more consequence, and to which 
they owe greater allegiance than to this. They are willing 
to shed blood to uphold their " king " and vindicate his 
authority as superior to this Jeffersonian, infidel affair, which 
they claim is an insult to him who is their Lord and Master. 
It is galling to their Christian consciences to live in such an 
infidel nation. They never have reflected that if American 
institutions do not suit them they are at liberty to take up 
their abode in any one of the many " kingdoms " already 
made to hand, and which were established by '"divine right," 
fully recognizing the Jewish and Christian God, whom the 
founders of our nation "insulted," "dishonored," fairly 
snubbed. 

It is folly to underrate the strength of opponents. It is no 
idle boast when Prof. Mcllvaine says Christians will defend 
this claim with their property, lives and sacred honor. They 
should be credited with uttering their heartfelt convictions. 
Before this religious-political struggle is settled it is quite 
likely blood will be shed in some sections of the Union as 
the result of the efforts of religious bigots to destroy the lib- 
erty our fathers bequeathed us. Religion has often produced 
such a sad state of things ; and, no doubt, will again disturb 
the peace now reigning in our land. Improbable ? So said 
the masses of America's noble sons in reference to a certain 

2 



l8 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

Other crisis, but who, a few months later, found themselves 
amid the dust and smoke of war. 

The clergy claim the right to govern themselves in a Chris- 
tian manner. Have they not that right now under the " god- 
less constitution ?" Grant them what they ask and they will 
agree "not to touch your religious liberties;" nor to " constrain 
your consciences." They promise still more, to " protect 
you in your right to worship God or not." Amazing kind- 
ness ! Under the present constitution citizens do not need 
such protection. They are abundantly able to take care of 
themselves. The fundamental law fully guarantees religious 
liberty to all. This is too broad for Christianity. 

The declaration that Christians will protect people in their 
right to not worship God demolishes the whole argument 
that the nation is bound to worship God. Why is a nation 
bound to worship God .'' Because a nation is an individual. (?) 
This is, by Christians, considered their strong argument. 
An assumption that an individual is bound to worship God 
is made the basis for an argument to show that a nation is a 
person^ and therefore must worship God. Christianity denies 
that individuals have a right not to worship God, so that the 
promise not to "constrain your consciences," and to protect 
individuals in not worshiping, annihilates the core idea of 
the whole movement for national recognition of God. These 
God-in-the-Constitution Christians promise what none but an 
Atheist can fulfill. Atheists believe tliat a man has a right 
not to worship any God ; and Prof. Mcllvaine, speaking in 
behalf of God-in-the-Constitution Christians, promises to 
protect them in this right. In other words will assist them 
to violate God's law ! Christianity insists that individuals 
owe God worship. None are exemjDt. Consequently a 
Christian nation would be an absolute desj^otism, com])elling 
every individual to bow the knee to tlie Jewish-Christian 
divinity ; or be an outcast, having no right that Christians 
would feel bound to respect. Atheists, Infidels — in a word, 
all free-thinkers — would be disfranchised ; and compelled to 



AMERICA S FOES. 1 9 

ol)serve religious reciuirements against which their souls are 
in continual revolt. 

People who are not aroused to a sense of the danger which 
threatens the existence of our free institutions, ask, " What 
harm can there be in acquiescing in an amendment of the 
preamble ? The devoted Christian is grieved because of the 
omission of the name of God in the supreme law of the land." 
" All he asks, and all he expects," we have been told, " is 
that God shall be honored. To grant this reasonable request 
of a large body of Christian people would forever set at rest 
the conscience of the Christian, and encroach upon the liberty 
of none." In the early stages of the discussion of this ques- 
tion this was the argument. As late as November, 1869, 
in the Iowa State Convention of Christians held at Oska- 
loosa, one clergyman, with a petition in his hand, read the 
preamble, and the proposed amendment : 

" Rev. G. S. Adams. I want to notice this point : Here 
is the petition, ( holding it in view of the audience.) The 
people of the United States ask Congress to adopt measures 
for amending the Constitution. The amendment is in the 
Preamble, not the body of the Constitution. The preamble 
lays down certain great principles to which we add others, 
acknowledging Almighty God as the source of all power in 
civil government, Jesus as Ruler of Nations, and the Bible 
as the Supreme Law. It is not in the Constitution, but the 
Preamble. It is simply to make buncombe to say that the 
proposition is to change the Constitution itself. And the 
Infidel cannot urge any reasonable objection why we should 
not acknowledge these fundamental principles of our religion 
in the Preamble." 

In that very petition from which the Reverend gentleman 
quoted there was a clause he accidentally overlooked. It 
was in these words : 

" And \YQ fuj'ther ask that such changes be introduced into 
the body of the Constitution as may be necessary to give effect 
to these amendments in the preamble." 

His attention was called to it at the time. The " bun- 



20 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

combe " on that occasion was purely of " home manuiacture." 
The desire of the clergy to " honor God " is a pretext. 
They aim at power I The design is to begin at the beginning, 
and Christianize the whole document. At that same Oska- 
loosa Convention a pamphlet was freely circulated, by one 
of the leading delegates, in which the amendments asked for 
are enumerated as follows : 

" The following changes will be requisite in the Consti- 
tution itself: 

"Art. II. Sec. i, clause 8, is as follows: 'Before he (the 
President) enter on the execution of his office, he shall take 
the following oath or affirmation ; I do solemnly swear (or 
affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of 
the United States, and will, to the best of my ability, pre- 
serve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United 
States.' 

" We propose the following : ' Before he enter on the exe- 
cution of his office, he shall, with uplifted hand, take the 
following oath : I do solemnly swear, by the only living and 
true God, and as I shall answer at the bar of Jesus Christ 
the Judge, that I will faithfully execute the office of Presi- 
dent of the United States, and until constitutionally amended, 
preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United 
States." 

Art. VI, Sec. 2, is as follows : 

" This constitution, and the laws of the United States 
which shall be made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties 
made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the 
United States, shall be the supreme law of the land ; and the 
judges in every State shall be bound thereby, anything in the 
Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwith- 
standing." 

Instead af that they propose the following : 

" This Constitution, and the laws of the United States 
which shall be made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties 
made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the 
United States, in subordination to the law of God revealed 
in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, shall be 
the supreme law of the land." 



AMERICA S FOES. 21 

"This amendment," says the author, "gives supremacy to 
Bible law." So it does. We will in due time examine that 
Bible law. The author of the pamphlet endeavors to sustain 
the proposed amendment of Article six. Section two, by the 
following quotations from the " supreme law of the land " (?) 
" Confession of Faith," " Larger Catechism," " Shorter 
Catechism," and " Testimony of the United Presbyterian 
Church." Obey the king, you rebels ! 

" Isa. viii: 20, 'To the law and to the testimony: if they 
speak not according to this word, it is because there is no 
light in them.' 

" 2 Tim. iii : 16, 'All Scripture is given by inspiration of 
God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correc- 
tion, for instruction in righteousness.' 17, ' That the man of 
God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good 
works.' 

" Psalms xix 17,' The law of the Lord is perfect.' 

" James i : 25, ' But whoso looketh into the perfect law of 
liberty, * * this man shall be blessed in his deed.' 

" Deut. xi : 18, ' Therefore shall ye lay up these my words 
in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign 
upon your hand that they may be as frontlets between your 
eyes.' 

" Jer. vii -.28, ' This is a nation that obeyeth not the voice 
of the Lord their God.' 

"Deut. xvii : 18, 'And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the 
throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this 
law in a book out of that which is before the priests the 
Levites.' 

" Micah IV : 2, ' And many nations shall come, and say, 
Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to 
the house of the God of Jacob ; and he will teach us of his 
ways, and we will walk in his paths : for the law shall go 
forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.' 

" Neh. X : 29, ' They clave to their brethren, their nobles, 
and entered into a curse, and into an oath, to walk in God's 
law.' 

" Isa. xxxiii 122,' The Lord is our Judge, the Lord is our 
Lawgiver^ the Lord is our King; he will save us.' 

"Conf. of Faith, Cap. 1,2, 'All Scripture is given by 
inspiration of God, to be the rule of faith and life.' 

" Larger Cat., Ques. 3, ' The Holy Scriptures of the Old 



22 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

and New Testaments are the word of God, the only rule of 
faith and obedience.' 

" Shorter Cat., Ques. 2, ' The word of God, which is con- 
tained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, is 
the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him.' 

" Tes. United Pres. Ch., Art. 13, ' We declare that the law 
of God, as written upon the heart of man, and as set forth 
in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, is supreme 
in its authority and obligations ; and that when the com- 
mands of the Church or State are in conflict with the com- 
mands of this law, we are to obey God rather than man. 
Authority exercised in opposition to the law of God is so far 
null and void, and cannot bind the conscience." 

"We are to obey God rather than man." So says the 
Catholic in his recognition of the supremacy of the Pope, 
God's vicegerent, interpreter of the will of heaven. The 
Catholics accept the words of a living man as infallible in 
matters of faith. Protestants endorse the words of dead men 
in matters of faith and practice, and both parties assume 
that it is God who speaks ! 

The framers of our Constitution fully aware of the cor- 
ruptions of Church-and-State union, carefully guarded against 
it in Article six. Section three : 

" The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and 
the members of the several State Legislatures, and all execu- 
tive and judicial officers, both of the United States and of 
the several States, shall be bound by oath or affirmation to 
support this Constitution ; but no religious test shall ever be 
required as a qualification to any office or public trust under 
the United States." 

The clergy propose to amend so that the principle con- 
tained in it, and which has given Free Thinkers an equal 
chance with religionists in the management of public afl'airs, 
shall be abolished. In its place they propose the subjoined 
sectarian clause : 

" The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and 
the members of the several State Legislatures, and all execu- 
tive and judicial officers, both of the United States and of 



AMERICA'S FOES. 2$ 

the several States, shall be just men, fearers of God and 
haters of covetousness, and shall be bound by oath to sup- 
port this Constitution ; but no denominational test shall be 
required furthe?' than that they shall be professors of religion 
in some Protestant Christian Church '\ 

In a' subsequent chapter the " just men " will be attended 
to without " benefit " to " Clergy." Protestants are unwilling 
that Catholics should share the advantages, if there should 
be any, of their proposed amendments. Is not that an 
example of the liberality of Protestantism ? It is an instance 
of history repeating itself. Whenever Protestants have had 
the power to discriminate against Catholics they have 
improved the opportunity. Protestants, during their whole 
history, have piteously complained of the persecutions they 
have suffered from the Catholics, while abstaining from men- 
tioning that they have nothing of which to boast over Catho- 
lics in this respect. The rule of Catholics would be no more 
relentless or intolerant than that of Protestants. Protestants 
repeatedly sound the alarm against Roman Catholic rule in 
this country. But are not Catholics Christians.^ Do they 
not believe in God 1 Jesus Christ .? the Bible } Do they not 
believe more in God and Jesus Christ than the Protestants ? 
Have they not a better Bible, and more of it, than Protest- 
ants ? And are they not opposed to infidelity ? Why, then, 
<iebar the Catholics from holding office ? Are there not " just 
men," "fearers of God and haters of covetousness," among 
the Catholics ? 

In another part of the pamphlet the author was more 
generous. He said he was in favor of the free exercise of 
the Bible-revealed Christian religion without deno77iinational 
preference. This would admit the Catholics to a full par- 
ticipation of the benefits (?) of the proposed amendment. 

There is now but one principal impediment to an alliance 
between Catholicism and Protestantism : Protestant jealousy. 
Protestants have never been able to brook Catholic pros- 
perity. But the bitter feud that formerly existed between 
these rival Christian parties, and which occasioned the loss 



24 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

of tens of thousands of lives, has become measurably healed 
under the liberalizing influence of our democratic-republi- 
can government. Both Catholics and Protestants have come 
to perceive that the differences that have kept them asunder 
are insignificant in comparison with the threatened annihila- 
tion of Orthodox Christianity by Skepticism. Christian 
Unity, even upon Catholic ground, is preferred by Protest- 
ants to Godless constitutions, governments and schools. 
Nearly all the fundamental aims of Protestantism and 
Catholicism are the same. Both seek to inaugurate a Chris- 
tian form of government. Christian rule is desired by both. 
The present form of government is denominated infidel, or 
Godless, by both Protestant and Catholic alike. The 
acknowledgment of God as the source of all authority and 
power in civil government has been, for ages, the pet dogma 
of the Catholic Church. The reign of the "Lord Jesus 
Christ" on the earth, "ruler among the nations," is as dear 
to the Catholic heart as it possibly can be to the Protestant. 
So it will be an easy matter to amend the amendment by the 
insertion of the word ' Orthodox ' in place of the word 
'Protestant.' Then the union between Orthodox Christians 
will take place, in order to constitute this a Christian nation 
and thus strangle religious liberty to death. 

" Tyranny, like a foul monster, coils 
Its slimy folds around crushed Liberty : 
Forever crushed and trampled in the dust ? 
Forbid it Fleaven ! " — 

Notwithstanding the Constitution affirms that no " relig- 
ious test " should exist, its framers were still fearful that 
some loop-hole remained through which danger of a religious 
character might come to the nation. Hence, at the very 
first session, of the first Congress, the first amendment to 
the constitution was made : 

" Congress shall make no law respecting a?t establish7nent of 
religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," etc. 



AMERICA S FOES. 



25 



With what jealous care did the Fathers of this Republic 
guard against the interference of religionists with the affairs 
of the State ? With what solicitude did they lay the foun- 
dations of this Nation ? They were aware of the despotic 
power of Religion, whenever, and wherever, it assumed con- 
trol of human affairs. They apprehended danger to the 
Republic by the ever meddlesome clergy. They feared the 
very calamity that has come upon us — religious dictation in 
civil affairs. Is it not suggestive that the first amendment 
to the Constitution of our country should be on the subject 
of 7'eli^ion ? The clergy never accepted the situation, and 
throughout our whole history have labored to inculcate 
opinions at variance with the principle of Self-Rule. In 
order to get the reins of government in their own hands 
they propose to blot out this first amendment, " Congress 
shall make no law respecting an estabHshment of rehgion, 
or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the 
freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people 
peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a 
redress of grievances," and put the following, which I copy 
from the aforementioned pamphlet, in its place : " The free 
exercise of the Bible-revealed Christian religion, the observ- 
ance of the Christian Sabbath, and everything requisite to 
the promotion of gospel Christianity, without denominational 
preference, shall be congressionally sustained and supported ; 
and the freedom of the press and of speech, unless in mat- 
ters of obscenity and profanity, shall not be abridged, or the 
rights of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition 
the government for a redress of grievances." 

Let that principle be carried out, and freedom of speech 
and of the press would be at an end in this country, as they 
are in nearly all lands in the old world where Christianity 
and other equally despotic systems of religion bear rule. 

The author of the pamphlet entitled, " Christian Amend- 
ments of the Constitution of the United States " reports Dr. 
Bushnell as saying, " From the Atheistic error in our prime 
conceptions of government has arisen the Atheistic habit of 



26 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

separating politics from religion." But that sagacious and 
noble Statesman, Thomas Jefferson, rejoiced that religion 
and the state were completely divorced in the new nation. 

I am informed by the editor of the Richmond (Va.) Whig, 
that he saw some autograph letters of Mr. Jefferson, of which 
the following are copies : 

" To Messrs. Nehemiah Dodge, Ephraim Robbins, and 

Stephen S. Nelson, a Committee of the Danbury Baptist 

Association, in the State of Connecticut : 

" Gentlemen : — The affectionate sentiments of esteem 
and approbation which you are so good as to express toward 
me, in behalf of the Danbury Baptist Association, give me 
the highest satisfaction. My duties dictate a faithful and 
zealous pursuit of the interests of my constituents, and, in 
proportion as they are persuaded of my fidelity to those 
duties, the discharge of them becomes more and more 
pleasing. 

" Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely 
between man and his God : that he owes accoimt to none other 
for his faith or worship; that the legitimate poicers of Gov- 
ermnent reach actions only, and not opinions — / contemplate with 
sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which 
declared that their Legislature should make no law respecting 
an establishment of religion^ or prohibiting the free exercise 
thereof; thus building a wall of separation between Church 
and State. 

" [Congress thus inhibited from acts respecting religion, 
and the Executive authorized only to execute their acts, I have 
refrained from prescribing even occasional performances 
of devotion, prescribed indeed legally where an Executive 
is the legal head of a national church, but subject here as 
religious exercises only to the voluntary regulations and dis- 
cipline of each respective sect.] 

" Adhering to this expression of the supreme will of the 
nation in behalf of the rights of conscience, I shall see with 
sincere satisfaction the progress of those sentiments which 
tend to restore to man all his natural rights, convinced he has 
no natural right in opposition to his social duties. 

" I reciprocate your kind prayers for the protection and 
blessing of the common Father and Creator of man, and 
tender you, for yourselves and your religious Association, 
assurances of my high respect and esteem. 

"January i, 1802. "Thomas Jefferson." 



AMERICA S FOES. 27 

" [The marked paragraph, inclosed in brackets, was omit- 
ted on account of the suggestion that it might give uneasi- 
ness to some of the RepubHcans in the Eastern States, where 
the proclamations of Thanksgivings, &c., by their Executive, 
is an ancient habit, and is respected. — Ed. of Whig.]" 

" THOMAS JEFFERSON TO MR. LINCOLN. 

'' Averse to receiving addresses, yet unable to prevent 
them, I have generally endeavored to turn them to some 
account, by making them the occasion, by way of answer, of 
sowing useful truths and principles among the people, which 
might germinate and become rooted among their political 
tenets. The Baptist address now inclosed admits of a con- 
demnation of the alliance betiveen Chiwch and State under the 
authority of the Constitution. It furnishes an occasion, too, 
which I have long wished to find, of saying why I do not 
proclaim fastings and thanksgivings, as my predecessors did. 
The address, to be sure, does not point at this, and its intro- 
duction is awkward ; but I foresee no opportunity of doing 
it more pertinently. / know it will give great offense to the 
Netv England Clergy^ but the advocate for religious freedom 
is to expect neither peace nor forgiveness from them. Will 
you be so good as to examine the answer and suggest any 
alterations which might prevent an ill effect or promote a 
good one among the peoj^le } You understand the temper 
of those in the North, and can weaken it, therefore, to their 
stomach ; it is at present seasoned to the Southern taste only. 
I would ask the favor of you to return it with the address 
in the course of the day or evening. Health and affection. 

^'' Janiia7y i, 1802." 

I have italicized portions of the letters. 

The Church Union., one of the organs which favored a 
theocracy, editorially. May 2, 1869, declares that Thomas 
Jefferson was an avowed infidel ; and it is a fact that he was. 
The editor then says, " He drafted our Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, and as we would suppose, based government on 
human authority, namely, ' Governments derive their just 
powers from the consent of the governed.' The Constitu- 
tion was framed in a similar spirit, without the slightest 
reference to any higher authority than the consent of the 
governed." 



28 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

The Church Unio?i says that is what Thomas Paine called 
" snubbing God ! " 

The clergy of America intend to accomplish all they can 
to undo the work of Jefferson and his co-workers, who built 
a nation that is better and stronger than all the " divine " 
governments ever instituted. 

" Extensive religious combinations effect apolitical object." 
" All religious despotism commences by combination and 
influence ; and when that influence begins to operate upon 
the political institutions of a country, the power soon bends 
under it ; and the catastrophe of other nations furnishes an. 
awful warning of the consequences." 

So spoke the Congressional Committee in 1829, in regard 
to the demand of the clergy of that time for a more rigid 
observance of Sunday. We are now threatened with just 
this kind of despotism. 

I will now quote from Prof. J. R. W. Sloane, D. D., one 
of the leading spirits of God-in-the-Constitution Reform. (.^) 

" The movement has already secured the hearty co-opera- 
tion of vast niLinbers of the intelligent and learned. It 
numbers among its advocates college presidents, professors^ 
judges of the higher courts, and others as thoroughly versed 
in political philosophy as any men of this age or country. 

" We have naturally with us, then, all who believe the 
foregoing fundamental principles ; all who are in favor of 
scriptural legislation upon marriage, the retention of the Bible 
in the public schools, the maintenance of religious services 
in legislative bodies, of laws for the preservation of the 
sanctity of the Sabbath, and of the oath as the highest sanc- 
tion of government ; and, in fine, of all who are not prepared 
to advocate the entire divorce of religion and politics. Those 
who believe, with Jefferson and his school, that government 
has no moral ends, that it deals only with 'breaking legs and 
picking pockets,' or, as it has been expressed, that 'govern- 
ment is nothing but the watch-dog lying at the door of the 
citizen for the defence of life and property,' are, of course, 
naturally and logically opposed to us." 

Yes, the Liberalists of the country will oppose any such 
scheme. 



AMERICA S FOES. 29 

Jefferson said that the " legislative powers of government 
reach actions only, and not opinions." The clergy are foes 
to this idea, and believe we ought to be ruled by a Christian 
government that would reach opinions ; that would punish 
infidelity. Every lover of American liberty will unhesita- 
tingly affirm that we have had enough of governments that 
deal w^ith opinions. As the clergy are discontented, dissat- 
isfied with our nation because it will not meddle with 
opinions, because its powers reach actions only — it follows 
logically that they are the natural foes to this Jeffersonian, 
human government. 



'T- 



11. 



THE GREAT QUESTION. 

"■ Upon the other side was Bigotry, 
A croaking beldam in a filthy garb, 
Blear-eyed, decrepit, and her venomed breath 
More withering than breeze by Upas kissed. 
She preached and prayed^ and called on God^ 

— Hudso7i Tuttle, 

Thousands of Christians now opposed to the movement 
for incorporating the name of God in the Constitution of the 
United States will be won over by the strong argument, 
potent to a Christian, " He who is not for me is against me," 
and its twin, " He that will not confess me before men, him 
will I not confess before my father in Heaven." Then will 
be presented the practical lesson, " Are you willing, Christian 
friends, to be found in the ranks of the enemies of Jesus .'' 
Look around, and see who are opposed to the recognition of 
our Lord and Savior ! Infidels, and, perhaps, a few mis- 
guided Christian brethren, who will forsake their opposition 
to the reign of Jesus when they perceive into what com- 
pany they have drifted. Will you crucify Christ afresh by 
laboring shoulder to shoulder with those who deny him, who 
mock at his divinity } The class of men who oppose the 
recognition of God in our great Charter is of itself a sufficient 
guarantee of the rightfulness of our cause. Sit ' not in the 
assembly of the mockers.' 'O my soul, come not thou into 
their secret ; unto their assembly, mine honor be not thou 
united.' " 

Such arguments, I repeat, will have weight with thousands 
who are not now in favor of the movement. I have often 



THE GREAT QUESTION. 31 

heard them presented with great vehemence from different 
pulpits. It has been my privilege to attend Christian Con- 
ventions, and other Christian meetings, at which I have taken 
pains to phonograph the utterances. They will be embodied 
in three chapters. 

As the colloquial style is a plain, forcible method of 
presenting facts and truths, I will, in that form, report what 
I have heard and seen on this great question. For the sake 
of simplicity I will represent the three principal views in the 
person of a Clergyman, who will voice the God-in-the-Con- 
stitution class of Christians, which will be the natural order 
of things. Second, Anti-Amendment Christian, who will 
defend the view entertained by the mass of those Christian 
people, who believe honestly that the recognition of God in 
the Constitution would be a calamity to religion. Third, 
Liberalist, who believes in Man, in human institutions, and 
is thoroughly American in all his thoughts and feelings, and 
will express the liberal sentiment of the country. He, and 
his arguments, will receive about as much time and attention 
as a Liberalist generally gets in a Christian meeting. Even 
the Anti-Amendment Christian, who agrees with him in 
opposition to a political recognition of God, seems to fear 
him ; a fact which the Clergyman is quick to perceive and 
turn to his own advantage. 

The ideas contained in the colloquy have actually been 
preached, spoken, written and printed. Many of the words 
as I caught them upon my pen-point were uttered amid the 
roar of theological musketry ; but the views in the main, are 
the cool, deliberate expressions of the several parties. In 
some of the Christian Conventions the excitement was intense. 
Sometimes about a dozen ministerial delegates would be 
striving to obtain the floor at the same moment. Such scenes 
more frequently occurred after some infidel opponent had 
uttered his protest. He always gave them something to talk 
about and caused them to manifest the cannibalistic dispo- 
sition to " slay and eat " him, as the most effectual way to 
dispose of his " horrid blasphemies !" As only one could be 



32 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

heard at a time, the unsuccessful aspirants for the floor, who 
had been wildly gesticulating and loudly calling upon " Mr. 
President !" with an anxious " for God's sake " look in their 
countenances, manifested their disappointment, according to 
their various temperaments as they, one by one, resumed 
their seats. 

We are now in the Christian Convention. Question, " Shall 
the name of God be put into the United States Constitution ?" 
No matter what the arguments are against it, the delegates 
all vote one way, that is, in favor of the religious amendment. 
No one is eligible to a delegacy who is not beforehand in 
favor of a constitutional God, and he is expected to vote ' aye ' 
for every resolution. It is not really necessary for the dele- 
gates to vote, but it is made an important and deeply solemn 
occasion. The voting is done with a great deal of ceremony — 
calling the ayes and noes, I have seen assemblies of this kind 
hushed into death-like stillness as the name of each delegate 
was called, and the solemn response "aye!" was heard. 
There are generally many resolutions, each one of which is 
voted upon separately — those resolutions upon which there has 
been such a stormy discussion ! Now is the calm ! Here 
is another Christian victory ! Not to take that vote, in that 
dignified manner, would spoil the effect of the Convention. 
The people are now profoundly impressed that w^hat the 
Jew, the Infidel, and the conservative Christian have said 
against the movement has failed to make the least impres- 
sion ; for have not the votes been unanimously in favor of 
God's recognition } Infidelity has been frequently defeated 
in this way ! 

THE DISCUSSION. 

Clergyman. " God is the Creator of nations no less than 
of individuals. Men do not create nations, otherwise than 
as the instruments of God. All mankind together are not 
able to create a blade of grass, nor a particle of matter ; how 
much less, the highest and most complex of all organisms, 
that is, a nation ! Do we ever conceive of ourselves as having 



THE GREAT QUESTION. 33 

created, or as capable of preserving in existence for one hour, 
this nation of ours? It would be nearer the truth to 
conceive of the nation as having created us, although that 
would be false. Creative power belongs to God alone. He 
is as truly and immediately the Creator and Preserver of 
nations, as he is of individuals. He holds the life of the 
nation in his hands, as truly and immediately as the lives of 
individuals. Ought not the nation then to acknowledge its 
Maker ? What conceivable reason can the individual have 
for doing this which does not equally bind the nation ? He 
who takes other ground, or who does not feel the importance 
of this — does he not therein implicitly inculcate the doctrine 
that the individual is not bound to acknowledge his Creator — 
that is the doctrine of practical atheism ? " 

Anti-Religious-Amendment Christian. " If ' God is 
the Creator of nations,' then we are not responsible for that 
■* Religious defect of the Constitution of the United States'? 
And if God created this nation, why did he allow it to 
prosper in the face of that deception in the preamble of the 
Constitution, 'We, the people of the United States,' etc. ? 

"If we acknowledge God in the Constitution, but continue 
in sin as individuals, would the nation or the people escape 
punishment ? 

" Now, as a mere outward profession of Christianity, by a 
person, may be from the most unworthy or misguided motives, 
so the mere confession of Christ by the nation will be no 
evidence of the nation's loyalty to Christ. And Christ might 
be more honored by not being professed at all, than to be 
professed and the nation not truly Christian." 

LiBERALiST. " If I believed that your Bible was written 
by God, then I would be obliged to concede that God is the 
•creator of nations. My clerical friend says because mankind 
are not able to create a blade of grass that they are not capa- 
ble of making a nation. The cases are not parallel. There 
are some things man can do that your God cannot do, and 
other things that Nature can do that man cannot perform. 
Man can make a steam engine and run it at the rate of forty 
3 



34 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

miles an hour. But God could not budge it an inch. There 
is just as much evidence that God makes and engineers a 
locomotive as that he creates a nation and administers its 
government. If God does create nations, why does he not 
run them ? Has man wrested God's government out of his 
hands } If your Lord Jesus Christ is ruler among the 
nations he had better abdicate, if the complaints of the 
clergy have any foundation ; for they say affairs were never 
so badly managed, and declare that they are going from bad 
to worse. Look at CJuHstian France, Christian Prussia — 
and, for that part, all the Christian nations of the earth ! " 

C. " Nations are bound to acknowledge the God of na- 
tions. God is the God of nations, no less than of individu- 
als. His laws are of supreme authority over nations and' 
governments, no less than over individuals. Howsoever 
ascertained, these laws are of supreme authority throughout 
the whole sphere of national and moral life. God holds 
nations, as such, responsible to Him. He rewards them as 
such for obedience ; He punishes them as nations for diso- 
bedience. In such national visitations, whether of mercy or 
judgment, no discrimination is made between innocent and 
guilty individuals. When the nation is obedient, all reap 
the benefits of God's favor ; when it is punished for diso- 
bedience, the innocent suffer with the guilty ; — because the 
nation is regarded and treated as a public person — rewarded 
and punished as such. Hence it was written, ' Happy is that 
people whose God is the Lord. ' This is the one truth of the 
civil history of the Jews, and equally of the surrounding 
nations, Egypt, Arabia, Phoenicia, Assyria, Persia. It is the 
one truth of the past history of all nations — the one truth 
which the present and future welfare of all existing nations 
requires them to lay to heart. If then nations, as such, are 
responsible to the moral government of God, are rewarded 
and punished as nations, it follows that they are bound to 
acknowledge this responsibility, to acknowledge as nations 
their true Sovereign. Every principle of government, every 
sentiment of loyalty, requires them to do so. Refusal or 



THE GREAT QUESTION. 35 

neglect to acknowledge God is rebellion against His govern- 
ment. Nor is there anything which can be adduced to justify 
the individual in violating this most obvious and sacred of 
all obligations." 

A. " Here then it appears that the nation in its organic 
capacity is regarded precisely as a person or individual, and 
that the same duties are encumbent on that corporate organ- 
ization as on each individual soul, and that as it is the duty 
of each soul to submit to Christ as the Pardoner and Savior 
of sinners, so the great aim of Government is, as an organi- 
zation, to recognize Christianity as the only true religion, 
and that if it do not thus recognize Christ, it is recreant to 
that which is its highest aim, and will bring down upon itself 
the wrath of God and its own ruin. This then is your theory 
of government. 

" In a word, this nation, in its organic capacity as a person, 
must profess religion, and that must be the Christian religion. 
Nothing less than this can be meant, as the sense in which 
this is to be a Christian government. 

" But Christ has distinctly said iion tali auxilio. He asks 
no such recognition by civil powers. ' My kingdom is not 
of this world.' 'Who made me a judge or a divider .'' 
When the people (see John vi : 15,) wanted to take Him by 
force and make Him a King He withdrew Himself. He 
refused even to decide a party question, as in the case of the 
query, is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar } Christ is King 
m.Zion — He reigns m Jacob. He asks not to have His laws 
or His gospels written in human constitutions — but He 
writes them upon human hearts. He reigns in the heart ' out 
of which are the issues of life.' He has given to His church 
— not to civil government — the mission of propagating the 
faith. If we set the example of putting a religious creed in 
the Constitution, the majority can at any time change the 
creed. If the Chinese should gain a majority (and the thing 
is possible,) they could vote Jesus out and vote Joss in. 
You insist that nations are moral persons, accountable to 
God ; ergo they ought to worship God as nations^ and if they 



36 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

do not they will be punished. Answer : A nation is only 
an artificial person, not a moral person. It is a mere corpo- 
ration — 'it hath no soul ' as Sir Edward Coke said. 'No 
being can be a moral person who hath not an individual con- 
science.' And the plea that there is 'an aggregate public 
conscience ' is monstrous ! Individual responsibility is the 
soul of accountability. ' Every one of us shall give account 
of himself to God.' Massed, consolidated accountability is 
no accountability at all. This doctrine is the soul of mobs." 

C. " The nation is bound to acknowledge God as the ulti- 
mate source of authority in civil government. Civil govern- 
ment, as to its essence and powers, is an ordinance of God. 
Its form indeed is left to be determined by the people accord- 
ing to their peculiar circumstances, necessities and capaci- 
ties. But no people have a right to dispense with govern- 
ment altogether. This would be to despise the ordinance of 
God. There was an approach to this in the early history of 
the Jewish people; when, because ^ there was no king in 
Israel^ every man did that which was right in his own eyes.' 
The social demoralization which resulted from this, is 
revealed to us in that horrid affair of the Levite's wife, in 
the civil war to which it gave rise, and in the almost annihi- 
lation of one whole tribe of Israel. This led the people to 
demand a King ; which was granted them, no doubt to save 
society from dissolution. Some form of government every 
people must have, because civil government is an ordinance 
of God ; and when established, its authority and powers are 
ultimately from God, not from the people.* It is the duty 
of the people to ascertain and define, according to their best 
light, what powers God has vested in government, but they 
cannot confer these powers. ''For there is no power but of 
God : the powers that be are ordained of God.' ' And the civil 
magistrate beareth not the sword in vain / for he is the minister 
of God.' 

" The powers of government being thus ultimately derived 
from God, require that He should be acknowledged as the 

* Prof. J. H. Mcllvaine. 



THE GREAT QUESTION. 37 

source. Derived powers can be lawfully exercised only in 
his name from whom they are derived. This is a universal 
principle, acknowledged by all men. The name of God, 
therefore, ought to be solemnly invoked for the sanction of 
all official oaths, and not be stricken out of these oaths, as it 
is now in the national Constitution. What else but judgment 
and punishment is to be expected from such dishonor and 
insult offered to Him from whom all the powers of govern- 
ment are derived ! What else but social disorganization and 
calamities such as those which our nation has been suffering 
for the last six years, and from which we have not yet 
escaped." 

L. " Really ! what tune will that Bible not whistle ? When 
our clerical friend succeeds in having it recognized as the 
* Supreme law of the land ' who will be its official expounders .'' 
The Indian orator, Red Jacket, uttered a great truth when 
he said, ' You Christians make the book talk to suit your- 
■ selves.' The 'rude child of the forest ' perceived a fact that 
has escaped the notice of the profoundest theologians ! 

" ' There was no king.' When the Jews had no king where 
was God? Or do you mean that God rules by proxy.? Did 
the people behave any worse when God's king was ruling 
them than when they ruled themselves.? If you can in this 
country make the people believe that God ought to rule its 
affairs, then the next claim by you, the clergy, will be that 
you are God's ambassadors. Your ipse dixit is sufficient!" 

C. "As God administers the affairs of the world and of 
human history in and through his Son Jesus Christ, whom 
he has appointed 'heir of all things,' and 'Prince of the 
Kings of the earth,' and as civil rulers in their official capacity 
are subjects of this King, it is therefore the duty of nations 
to acknowledge and be subject to him as their King and 
Lawgiver; and especially so since civil authorities are 
specifically commanded in the word of God to do so, and 
smce through him all national as well as individual blessings 
are dispensed." 

A. "The fallacy of this whole move lies in assuming that 



38 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

civil government *as a person, in its organic capacity,' is 
designed of God to profess and promulgate religion. This 
fallacy, therefore, consists in confounding the aim of the 
State with that of the church, the aim of politics with that 
of religion, the aim of civil law with that of Christian Gospel. 

" Civil government and religion are both institutions of 
God. It is the will of God that the churches and the State 
should exist as organizations ; there is a necessity in human 
nature for both institutions, even though both civil and 
church organizations have been perverted and abused. But 
it does not follow that because both are thus necessary and 
designed, that therefore they both have precisely the same 
sphere and immediate aim, any more than because a plow 
and reaper are necessary and designed, therefore both have 
the same sphere and immediate aim. What then are the 
respective aims of the Church and the State, of ecclesiastical 
and civil organizations .'* 

" The aim of civil government is to establish and protect 
the civil rights of its citizens by laws and penalties through 
fear and coercion. 

" The aim of the Church is to teach and inculcate religion, 
including the principles of Divine Law, and the Gospel of 
Salvation. 

"But here it may be objected that as the State must have 
law, this law must be based upon the principles of justice 
and right ; and that we cannot ascertain what right and justice 
are, unless they rest upon the principles of God's law and of 
true religion, and that, hence, religion must be recognized 
and professed by the government. But this last inference 
does not follow from the premises. 

"It may be true that the ultimate idea of right and justice 
among men is based upon the great fact of God and of a 
future life as revealed in the Scriptures. But even supposing 
there could be no correct idea of civil right and justice 
without this, still it would not follow that a religious creed 
should be incorporated into civil government. 



THE GREAT QUESTION. 39 

"It matters not whence comes the conception of civil right 
and justice so long as these are secured. 

" And when religion, and especially Christianity as a 
revealed system of truth, is appointed to set forth man's 
relations to God and to his fellow-man, and all liberty is 
given for its promulgation, we have no occasion to make any 
religious creed a part of civil government. 

"A government can ascertain and enforce civil rights and 
mete out punishment without forcing the citizens to believe 
in some particular phase of religion. 

" All this talk about the wrath of God against nations 
because they do not confess Christ in their organic capacity, 
is based on the assumption that God demands of all nations 
as such, what they never were designed to afford. The only 
truly religious character that any nation can have, is that 
which results from the free profession and living out of 
religion in the individual heart of each member of society. 

" Moreover, how are civil enactments going to make men 
believe in religion? Religion must not only be a personal 
motive, but a free conviction. And the moment you begin 
to legislate on this subject, you invite opposition rather than 
belief and true obedience. 

" When I reflect how Jesus Christ refused to be made an 
earthly king, escaping from the hands that would make Him 
such, declaring ' My Kingdom is not of this World,' and it is 
■especially declared that He, as the Messiah, is Kingof Zion; 
when I reflect that His Kingdom and religion is a spiritual 
power in love and in the hearts of his subjects, and that his 
Church is not an instrument of force and of terror in earthly 
matters — this being left for the civil government in its own 
proper sphere — and when, through a perversion of Chris - 
tianity, of the Church, and of the State, I see what crimes 
have been committed in the name of religion and Chris- 
tianity, what Atheistic reactions have occurred from the 
superstitions and tyrannies of combined ecclesiastical and 
political institutions ; when I behold the bloody wars and 
carnage that have resulted from this perversion of the aims 



40 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

of government and of Christianity, then do I look with pride 
and satisfaction upon our own free Columbia, where Church 
and State, religion and civil government are held distinct in 
their respective spheres — then do I feel to pray God that in 
this my native country, the time may never come when the 
State shall undertake to promulgate a creed and enforce 
religion, but that, in accordance with the wise fathers who- 
founded this government, it may still go forward giving equal 
privileges to every race and every name, and trusting that 
Christianity, coming forth from the hand of her Almighty 
Author, animated with the breath of His Eternal Spirit, and 
adorned in her pure robes of spotless love, may move freely 
among this great people and win by her own beauty, grace 
and virtue, the greatest conquest — the hearts of men!" 

C. " We, as a nation, have experienced throughout our 
whole history the most signal manifestations of God's pro- 
tecting and fostering care. No people, except perhaps the 
Jews, were ever so favored of God as we have been. In the 
settlement of the colonies ; in the extent, fruitfulness and 
healthfulness of our country ; in its vast internal water com- 
munications ; in the establishment of our independence and 
national existence ; in our unparalleled growth and develop- 
ment, until we have become one of the mightiest powers of 
the earth ; in our unbounded material prosperity ; in our 
all-comprehending systems of education ; in all our civil and 
religious institutions and liberties; in our deliverance from 
national destruction threatened by the late terrible rebellion, 
the fierce and cruel assaults of the slave-principle aiming to 
destroy our national organization — in all this, is not the 
fostering and protecting hand of God manifest.? Ought not 
all these national mercies and blessings to be acknowledged 
with national gratitude ? But how can this be done with 
Constitutional authority, or sanction, while even the name of 
God is unknown to the Constitution itself.'* 

" Our national blessings have been hardly more signal than 
our national chastisements. When we consider the vast 
number of human lives which were cut off in the late civil 



THE GREAT QUESTION. 4I 

war, is it too much to say that this land has been deluged 
with blood, and is now filled with the cries of bereaved 
parents, widows and orphans, because we have failed to 
recognize God in our nation ? Besides this, what accumula- 
tions of wealth did the war annihilate. In what condition 
has this enormous destruction of life and property left us J 
With a load of debt and taxation, greater in proportion to 
our means than that of any other peo^Dle ! How these bur- 
dens paralyze our productive industry and trade ! Who can 
foresee what is to be the end of our present political and 
financial troubles 7 

" We are threatened, not with another civil and sectional 
war, but with a social war, which if it be not averted, cannot 
fail to prove infinitely more disastrous and bloody than that 
from which we have just emerged, because it will not be 
confined to sections, but will pit against each other the 
inhabitants of every city, town and village, and every rural 
district in the land. Has all this no meaning } Is it not a 
divine admonition and warning of what must be the conse- 
quences of our great national sin of leaving God out of our 
government 7 Does it not call upon us to humble ourselves 
before him, not as individuals only, but as a nation, and to 
avert the calamities by a full and catholic acknowledgment 
of his authority, in our national constitution and govern- 
mental affairs? Nations have the inalienable right to 
acknowledge their God. Say our opponents : 

" ' Civil government is for civil purposes alone ; it has noth- 
ing to do with religion ; consequently it cannot legitimately 
acknowledge a God ; and thereby it would virtually lay under 
civil disabilities those who do not believe in God.' 

"Now with respect to the first part of this objection, that 
'civil government is for civil purposes alone ;' this is very 
true, but it does not follow that nations and governments 
have no right to acknowledge as such their God and Pre- 
server, by whom they are ordained and established, and from* 
whom all their powers are derived. With equal truth it may 
be said that marriage is for the propagation of the race, to 



42 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

supply man's want of society, of communion with his kind ; 
but it does not follow that God is not to be recognized in 
the marriage relation. The institution of the family also is 
for educational purposes ; but it does not follow that the 
family as such has no right to acknowledge the God of the 
family. Nay, even a business firm, for the sole purpose of 
acquiring wealth, has the inalienable right to acknowledge 
God, who alone can give success to business enterprise. If 
the nation were nothing more than a voluntary compact for 
the accomplishment of civil purposes, it must needs have the 
same right. But the nation is more than this. It exists as 
we have seen, by an ordinance of God, deriving all its powers 
from Him, and is held responsible to His moral government. 
It has, therefore, not only the inalienable right, but is obliged 
in reason, and by the strongest of all moral obligations to 
acknowledge Him in its fundamental law. 

" With respect to the second part of this objection, that it 
would place under civil disabilities those among us who do 
not believe in God, it unfolds itself in this form. The 
objector says : 'If you acknowledge in your Constitution a 
God in whom I do not believe, and undertake to administer 
your national affairs according to what you call His moral 
laws, my relation to the government and to the nation is 
unequal as compared with that of my fellow-citizens. In 
order that we who do not believe in God should stand equal 
with others before the government, the government as such 
must know no God.' To this we answer as follows — ^judge 
whether or not what we say has the force of truth : The 
nation has its rights and liberties as well as the individual. 
Each of these can be pushed to such an extreme as to destroy 
the other. Thus in a perfectly despotic form of goverment, 
the rights and liberties of the individual are denied and taken 
away. Where the individuals of the people claim all powers 
are vested in and lawfully exercised by them, as individuals, 
'the rights, liberties and powers of the nation are destroyed, 
and anarchy is the result. Hence, the rights and liberties of 
the individual and those of the nation, are to be guarded 



THE GREAT QUESTION. 43 

with equal care. Where either prevails over the other, civil 
society either perishes or falls into rapid decay. Now it is 
clear to us, that this anarchic principle has made no little 
progress, where individuals deny to the nation the right to 
acknowledge its God, and this denial is felt to have any force. 
For it is indisputable that we, in the character or profession 
of the vast majority of our citizens are a Christian people." 

A. " Jesus Christ came to establish a kingdom — a non- 
resisting kingdom. Government is nothing else than a prom- 
ise of mutual protection. To illustrate : Four men in a 
vessel, one a Christian, one a Mohammedan, one a Jew, and 
one a Mormon. The vessel springs a leak, and the craft 
seems destined to sink for want of material to stop the 
gushing in of the water. The Jew thinks of the precious 
book he has in his pocket and thrusts it into the orifice and 
partially stops the leak; but still there is danger. The 
Christian adds his precious New Testament, but still the 
vessel leaks. The Mohammedan adds his Koran and the 
Mormon his book of Mormon, and the vessel is saved from 
sinking. 

" Just so in civil government. There can be no safety so 
long as any particular religion is recognized as supreme and 
too sacred to forego the sacrifice of being totally ignored for 
the benefit of all. 

" In 1776, when it became necessary that men should fight 
for their country, the questions were not asked, ' Are you an 
Infidel.-^' 'Are you an Atheist.'*' 'Are you a Christian, or 
Jew.'' ' No ! it was ' Gentlemen, everything that can be 
brought to bear against the enemy let us bring it to bear ; 
not as Christians^ but as men.'' Every man that sacrificed his 
life in the war with George III was not a Christian, but so 
far as civil government was concerned all had certain com- 
mon rights. Suppose an attack is threatened on a mixed 
congregation, as was the case often in times of Indian troubles. 
The question would not be asked, 'Who are Christians.?' 
We all should be willing to sacrifice our personal prejudices, 



44 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

where a common cause demands it, upon rational, human, 
common sense ground. 

'' St. Paul spoke of that ' Man of Sin ' which should come 
in the latter days, setting himself up in God's place, showing 
himself that he is God; and we read in the 13th chapter of 
Revelation that John ' stood upon the sand of the sea shore 
and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads 
and ten horns.' This doubtless represented the nationalities 
and principalities of the earth. He also saw another beast 
coming up out of the earth ' and he had tw^o horns like a 
lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he exercised all the 
powers of the first beast — ' and caused those who would not 
bow down and worship the image of the beast to be put to 
death. 

" Daniel spoke of a beast with two horns, one of which 
was longer than the other. These horns certainly represent 
the spiritual and temporal powers. When the Church of 
Christ, or Kingdom of Heaven, was established on earth it 
exercised only the spiritual power. After this horn had 
grown awhile the spiritual and temporal powers were united^ 
and so-called Christians began to take part in civil govern- 
ment, and the rulers of the Church ' exercised all the powers 
of the first beast ' contrary to the teachings of Jesus Christ, 
who said, 'My kingdom is not of this world.' 

" You are attempting to unite the spiritual and the tem- 
poral powers, and as Christians, exercise all the powers of 
nationalities and principalities. If you ever complete the 
union of Church and State, then those who will not bow down 
and worship this first beast will be ostracized. You are now 
putting the short horn on the second beast, and corruption 
and abomination will follow. The wickedest men — liars and 
dissolute men — will then join the church and go into politics 
as Christians. 

" Any amendment to the Constitution, so as to recognize 
God, Jesus Christ, or the Christian Religion, without chang- 
ing the hearts and consciences of our people would be only 
a hypocritical pretension and blasphemy against God the 



THE GREAT QUESTION. 45 

Father, and would be as likely to bring up curses as to bring 
down blessings." 

C. " The original framers of our National Constitution, 
the greatest men of their age, were extremely anxious to 
guard against the corruptions, both political and. religious, 
which, in the old world, had arisen from the union of Church 
and State. In doing this they went far into the opposite 
extreme, from which corruptions no less fatal could not fail 
to arise. They seem to have thought that religion was some- 
thing so exalted and pure and holy that it would necessarily 
be degraded, defiled and corrupted by the least contact with 
politics. Hence it must be removed from governmental 
affairs altogether. The name of God must not be even 
mentioned in the Constitution. But they seem not to have 
perceived that this was a two-edged sword, which cut both 
ways. For precisely in that degree in which they removed 
religion from politics, did they sequester politics from religion, 
and all its purifying influences. 

" The notion that the powers of government are derived 
by voluntary surrender of them from the people, is irrational 
and pernicious. It is irrational, because the national or 
sovereign powers actually exercised by all governments 
cannot be derived, or logically justified in this way, as may 
be proved by a single example. If these powers be thus 
derived from the people, it follows that no power can be 
lawfully exercised by government, which was not previously 
in the people. But no man is possessed of the power of life 
and death. No man has power even over his own life, to 
take it away for any reason, or in any circumstance. Con- 
sequently no man can surrender this power to the government. 
He cannot give up what he does not possess. No govern- 
ment can lawfully exercise this power ; and capital punishment 
according to this notion, becomes judicial murder. This 
consequence is admitted and avowed by the most strenuous 
and logical advocates of the theory. The same is obviously 
true of the powers of peace and war, and indeed of all the 
sovereign or national powers. Thus the very foundations of 



46 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

government are overthrown. The notion is pernicious, not 
only because it is thus irrational, and subverts the founda- 
tions of all government, but also, and chiefly, because the 
people who adopt it arrogate to themselves the exclusive 
prerogatives and attributes of God. They place themselves 
on the throne of God, from which they are sure to be hurled 
into a bottomless abyss of punishment and misery." 

L. " Your argument which affirms that man has not power 
over life and death, and, therefore, has no right to hang his 
fellow-man, is sound. Therefore, capital punishment is 
'judicial murder,' and God himself cannot change the fact. 
People imagined God gave them the authority to take life, 
which neither he nor they could restore. If a man has a right 
to take life for God, then when an innocent man is hung and 
if it was a God-act to hang him, God ought to restore him 
again to Hfe ! What would be still better, and would prevent 
mistakes, God ought to do his own hanging, inasmuch as he 
is the only one supposed to have power of life and death ; 
but not even that over himself, any more than man has over 
himself. The pernicious and immoral act — rather the awful 
and criminal act — of choking an offender to death is the 
direct result of clerical teaching : that God has a right to 
take human life, and does not do it after all ; but men do it 
in his name, just as you clergy would overturn this govern- 
ment and again press Quakers and Freethinkers to death, 
and hang witches, all in the name and for the glory of your 
God." 



III. 

POLITICS AND RELIGION. 

" I will sunder, and forever." 

— Dot en. 

President of the Convention. "We again meet to 
discuss the great question of recognizing God. Time !" 

Clergyman. " The great political parties by which our 
public men are elected to office, cease to recognize the 
authority of God's moral laws in their schemes and struggles 
to defeat and displace each other. The whole interworking 
of these parties becomes one vast enginery of corruption, 
the one great aim of which is the spoils of office and plunder. 
This is the natural and logical consequence of the separa- 
tion of politics from religious influences ; as it is notoriously 
the fact, (notable exceptions apart,) in this country at the 
present time. What words could adequately characterize 
that unblushing, abounding and ever-increasing political 
corruption, defying all rebuke, all restraint, with which this 
nation is now afflicted ; and which is as certain to under- 
mine and overthrow our free institutions as that it shall 
continue } But even this is not the worst. In a free country, 
such as this, politics enter much more deeply and extensively 
than elsewhere into the life of the whole people, so that 
almost every one becomes a politician, — in this way the 
whole people become demoralized and corrupted. 

"In order to make head effectually against the ever- 
increasing political corruption, and all its ruinous conse- 
quences, is it not indispensable that we acknowledge God 



48 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

and his moral laws as of supreme authority in the national 
Constitution ? Would not the natural tendency of such a 
public and solemn acknowledgment be to bring forward in 
the administration of the government, and in all our national 
affairs, men in sympathy with it, and thus to purify the 
whole vast sphere of political life in this country ? And is 
it not manifest that something different from, and more 
effectual than, the influences hitherto at work, must be tried, 
or we must eventually perish as a nation from political 
corruption ? 

"What do you understand by 'political religion?' Does 
any one pretend to say that we are any worse for a little 
religion ? Even a very little religion is a very great benefit 
to man. Even the Heathen acknowledged that the fear of 
the gods was the foundation of their commonwealth. This 
nation cannot exist without religion. It must recognize the 
worship of God in order to secure the interests of society." 

LiBERALiST. " Political corruptions are bad enough ; but 
in comparison Avith those European countries, where religion 
and the state are united, American politics are as pure as the 
rain-drops descending from heaven. The clergy and the 
nobility have, in the majority of cases, united to plunder the 
people. History is against the purifying influences of religion 
in connection with politics. In my judgment religion has 
no purifying influence, either in or out of politics. If the 
nation, by becoming a professing Christian, would be no 
more honest than the majority of you Christians there would 
be little hope for the country." 

Anti-Religious- Amendment Christian. "Religion is 
a form of worship, and when we acknowledge the right to 
proscribe upon the basis of the Christian religion, we must 
permit the Universalist to come in and swear by his God and 
his religion, the Unitarian by his God and his religion, the 
Methodists and Baptists and Presbyterians and Moravians 
and Mormons by their Religions and their Gods, (for they 
all worship 4iflerent Gods, or a God teaching different doc- 
trines,) and the Catholics by their religion and their God, or 



POLITICS AND RELIGION. 49 

you must exclude all but one, and that one to be consistent 
must be infallible, and all the rest ' heretics,' and their 
teachings ' damnable heresies.' Then there are the Israelites 
or Jews, whose Messiah has not yet come, and whose God 
has not yet offered up His only begotten Son as a living 
sacrifice for the remission of sins. What shall we do with 
these, — God's chosen people ? ' Shall we allow them to 
swear by their own God, or shall they swear by our God ? 
and what kind of a God shall ours be ? Shall He be such 
as our people North and South were worshiping but a few 
years ago, in blood, fire and flame, internecine strife, murder, 
rapine and war? 

" But suppose we could agree upon the kind of a religion 
and the attributes of the God by whom we should swear, 
would the oath be any better ? That soul which would swear 
falsely under the present form of the Constitution, would 
cheerfully comply with all forms and proscriptions, and would 
hypocritically bow before ten thousand so-called gods and 
religions, in order to commit perjury and injure his fellow 
man. We have too much hypocrisy already without offering 
a premium upon it. 

" We cannot ' make head effectually against this ever-in- 
creasing political corruption, and all its ruinous consequences,' 
by merely 'recognizing God in the Constitution.' Take the 
leaders of parties now as they are, and you find the very 
meanest of political tricksters and corrupt party leaders are 
professors of religion who have polluted the church, blas- 
phemed Almighty God, and disgraced the Christian religion 
by using it as a cloak to hide their infernal deeds. True 
religion is not to blame for this. What then ? You may talk 
about ' God and his moral laws,' from Hades to the Resur- 
rection, and you can never stop political corruption or 'purify 
the whole vast sphere of political life in this country,' except 
by educating the rising generation in a more rational manner. 

"If people are educated to tell the truth, they will never 
fail to swear to the truth, the whole truth, and nothing else 
4 



50 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

but the truth, no matter whether they see the name of God 
in the Constitution or not." 

C. ** Such an amendment of the Constitution as we propose 
would not affect in the least, any of the relations of the dif- 
ferent Christian sects to each other, or to the government. 
It would leave them all in this respect, just where they now 
stand ; placing them all alike, however, on high vantage 
ground for the realization of the common aims of the Chris- 
tian religion, in which they all agree. It is an object, 
therefore, in which all real and nominal Christians, that is to 
say, the vast majority of the citizens of the United States, 
can heartily unite, without sectarian jealousies or fears. This 
of itself is a point of great interest and hopefulness in this 
movement, and one that can hardly fail to secure its ultimate 
success. Because some may not believe in Jesus, should 
they deny us the right to acknowledge Him V 

L. " ' High vantage ground for the realization of the com- 
mon aims of the Christian religion.?' Precisely ! Are there 
no other religionists besides Christians to be consulted } If 
Christians constitute the 'vast majority ' of the people, that 
would not warrant them in invading the rights of the minority. 
It is a well-known fact, however, that when Christians have 
had this power they, with few exceptions, unhesitatingly 
exercised it to extirpate heresy and infidelity by force. 

" I do not believe in Jesus as you believe in him ; but 
where will you find an Infidel who denies your right to 
acknowledge him .?" 

C. " Suppose a similar difficulty to arise in the family, 
how would it be treated .'' You have a son who does not 
believe in God. He is still a member of your household, 
and he comes to you and says : ' Father, we must abolish 
family worship. You have no right to acknowledge in the 
family a God in whom I do not believe. It places me in an 
unequal relation to the family, of which I am a member. 
You may pow-wow as much as you please in private, but as 
a member of the family, I must insist that we have nothing 
of the kind in common.' What answer would you make.? 



POLITICS AND RELIGION. 5 I 

You would say, ' My son, you are unreasonable — you cannot 
be gratified. I will not require you to attend family worship — 
you are a man — you must judge for yourself. But if you 
take the ground that this family shall not worship nor 
acknowledge God, because you as an individual do not choose 
to do so — there is the door, my son.' 

" The Federal Constitution should contain such a recogni- 
tion, and for the following reasons : 

'* I St, Only therein, or in another instrument framed as it 
was and therefore of equal dignity with it, can such a recog- 
nition be made. Not only is the Constitution the highest 
utterance of the Nation ; but, in an important sense, it and 
national acts performed under its authority, are the only 
organic utterances of the Nation as a Nation. 

" 2nd. In view of the objects professedly contemplated 
in its formation, a failure to recognize the Divine Sovereignty 
therein, is in effect, to deny it. The Constitution is the 
solemn, well-considered declaration of the Nation before the 
world, not only as to the form of government established, 
but also as to the ends contemplated in its establishment. 
The Preamble sets forth these ends. Manifestly, the ends 
contemplated are the very blessings the bestowment of which 
God claims as his own prerogative. For a Nation enlightened 
by His Word, and peculiarly favored by His Providence, to 
adopt a Constitution professedly to secure these blessings, 
without embodying therein a recognition of His Sovereignty, 
is to claim for itself His prerogative. 

" A congregation of the whole people, or of a majority 
thereof, for prayer or praise, in compliance with a presiden- 
tial or congressional recommendation, would be, it is 
acknowledged, in a sense^ a National act ; but still, not being 
provided for in the Constitution, it would not be an organic 
act — it would not reach the dignity and importance of a con- 
stitutional declaration. Notwithstanding such an act, the 
formal organic utterance of the Nation in the Constitution, 
(an utterance ignoring the Divine Sovereignty,) would still 



52 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

remain before the world as the Nation's declaration of its 
position as a Natio7i in reference to God." 

A. " My Christian brother, you refer to the son who does 
not like to engage in family worship, which is not a parallel 
case. Family government is a despotism, in which the head 
of the family may dictate terms, and children must obey or 
there can be no order. 

" Our Republican form of government does not recognize 
the right of any man or set of men to set up any particular 
class of ideas, and say to those who do not believe their 
dogmas, ' There is the door, my son — if you can't swear by 
our God and w^orship in accordance with our religion, you 
can become an alien to our government and we will so recog- 
nize you. Your oath shall not be considered of binding 
force, and your evidence in law shall not be taken.' 

" Such is the nature of the issue between us. Minorities 
have rights, and the indirect proposition to alienate or treat 
as heathens, all those who would not endorse the proposed 
religious amendment, in case it should be adopted, is certainly 
in conflict with the genius of our Republican form of gov- 
ernment and subversive of every species of Democracy. 

" Until we can all unite upon and agree to worship one and 
the same God, whose eternal attributes are the same yester- 
day, to-day, and forever, we shall be none the better off by 
the mere mention of the name of God in our Constitution 
and laws. Every nation is as much an ' organism ' as is a 
family or a church : but it is not supposable that every indi- 
vidual therein shall unequivocally agree upon any particular 
class of ideas, or have the same conceptions of God and His 
attributes. The Creator has made certain fixed laws of 
nature, the obedience of which brings happiness, and the 
violation of which entails misery." 

L. " All just governments are founded upon Rational- 
ism, having for the basis of their Constitutions, laws and 
institutions, the experience of mankind in past ages ; and, as 
a people, we, like all others, must receive ' rewards ' and 
* chastisements ' in proportion to our deviation from this 



POLITICS AND RELIGION. 53 

political axiom. The God of Nature will not change the 
most insignificant of His laws for the purpose of 'rewarding,' 
or ' chastising 'us. We ' reward ' and ' chastise ' ourselves by 
our own actions. If we would preserve our nationality, and 
incur the blessings provided for us by Nature, we should 
recognize the sovereignty of Rationalism in our Constitution 
and our laws. Otherwise, we must perish as a nation. 

" Suppose we recognize one God, or a thousand gods, in 
every letter of the Constitution, and then go on to make the 
most ridiculous instruments, and perpetuate the most hellish 
institutions, how long do you suppose the prayers of the 
people would preserve the nation } 

" To make any mention whatever of a God or gods in the 
Constitution, would be virtually the establishment of a religion. 
Since all religion is based upon this idea, the mission of the 
nation is to protect the people, leaving each individual free 
to worship according to the dictates of his or her own con- 
science, and swear by the altar of his or her own God. 
Thanksgiving proclamations amount to nothing more than 
individuals see fit to make of them; and no matter what the 
form of our Constitution and laws, it seems that otir people 
generally pervert thanksgiving days into seasons of gluttony 
and intemperance, and so it would continue with the name 
of God in the Constitution. By leaving the Constitution as 
it is, we, as a nation, ignore all religions alike, and protect all 
alike. 

" The Constitution of the United States is not a religious 
creed to express the faith or define the policy of the Christian 
Church or any sect thereon. It is an instrument for the 
creation of civil government, designed to establish justice, 
insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defence, 
promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of 
liberty to the American people. This civil government 
exists in the name of the people, and derives all its just 
powers from their legally expressed consent. It is moreover, 
not a theocracy, created by any special intervention of God, 
and of which He is the civil head. It has no appointment 



54 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

of form, prerogative or powers beyond those which inhere in 
the very constitution and necessities of civil society. It is 
just what it professes to be — a civil government and nothing 
more. It is not a Church to propound, propagate or enforce 
religious creeds ; but a civil government to define and protect 
the rights of men in their relations to each other, considered 
as subjects and citizens of the State. To say that the Con- 
stitution under which this government exists is atheistic and 
irreligious because it does not contain a religious creed, 
either in whole or in part, would, in principle, be equivalent 
to saying that chemistry is atheistic and irreligious because 
it does not include in its analysis and synthesis the doctrine 
of God and the Lordship of Jesus Christ. A bank corpora- 
tion or a railroad company is atheistic and irreligious for the 
same reason. I take it that finance is one thing and theology 
another. And so hold that civil government is one thing 
and religion quite another. 

" We hence confront the primary principle of these gen- 
tlemen with a square and positive denial. I deny that it is 
the province of any civil government, unless it can make 
good its claim to the plenary attributes of theocracy, to pre- 
scribe or enforce any system of religious faith. It deals 
with men in the relations of time, and not those of eternity. 
So far as it enters the field of moral virtues, it contemplates 
them in their civic relations. This, and this only, is the 
legitimate province of civil government. The moment it 
passes this boundary it becomes a usurpation in theory, and 
almost always such in fact. Considered philosophically it 
becomes an absurdity, since no legal regulation or proscrip- 
tion can ever govern one's religious faith. It may repress 
its expression by the arm of persecution ; but human law 
can never reach the thing itself. It ought not to reach it. 
The question involved lies between the individual soul and 
the God of the soul, and not between the soul and the State. 
The civil law is bound to protect the individual against all 
infraction of his rights, and then leave him to adjust his own 
faith upon his responsibilities to the God who made him. 



POLITICS AND RELIGION. 55 

This is the only principle that can be reconciled with the 
inalienable right of a personal conscience in application to 
religion. Reject it, and the great doctrine of religious liberty 
is at once in peril." 

A. " The sad experience of the world proves, as a ques- 
tion of consequences, that it is best for religion and best for 
the State that civil government should let religion alone, and 
leave its history to be determined by other influences. 
Hypocrisy, corruption, ambition and persecution in both 
State and Church are the usual fruits of crowding religious 
creeds into the Constitution of the State, and extending the 
powers of the State into the bosom of the Church. There 
may possibly be some world in which the thing can be done 
with safety ; but, if there be any truth in history this is not 
the world. All advantages that have ever been gained by 
the process are more than a thousandfold over-balanced by 
the evil resulting from it. There is no deeper plot of Satan 
than that which undertakes to commit the definition and 
regulation of religious faith to the civil power. The further 
we keep from this idea the safer for the whole people. We 
want no approaches to it. I accept no proposition which is 
m the incipient stage of it. We like the Constitution of the 
United States, because it utterly absolves itself from all 
direct connection with the religion of the land and all the 
sects who profess it." 

C. " What should we think of a friendship which a friend 
Avould not avow ? What is said of those who wish to be 
thought Christians, perhaps, but will not openly confess their 
faith .? They may aid Christian charities, favor Christian 
institutions, because they regard this faith simply a useful 
superstition. The institution of marriage is properly respected 
as honorable, yet the sexes cohabit without marriage. Shall 
this be considered a practical acknowledgment of the insti- 
tution, and amounting to about the same thing } Are these 
delations to be classed with the high and pure relations of 
those who have openly and solemnly dedicated themselves 
to each other } Out upon such sophistries. They insult 



56 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

reason as well as taste and morality. Christ countenances no 
such subterfuges. ' He who is not for me is against me. ' 
' He that will not confess me before men, him will I not con- 
fess before my Father in heaven.' 

" ' In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct 
thy paths.' Prov. iii : 6. 'The wicked shall be turned into 
hell, and all the nations that forget God.' Ps. ix : 17. 
' Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, and the people 
whom he has chosen for his own inheritance.' Ps. cxliv : 
15. ' Happy is that people, whose God is the Lord.' Ps. xxii: 
27. ' All the ends of the world shall remember and turn 
unto the Lord : and all the kindreds of the nation shall 
worship before thee.' 

" It is our duty to make God's glory a main motive in the 
establishment of government : 

" Rom. xi : 2i^^ ' For of him, and through him, and to him 
are all things : to whom be glory forever. Amen.' i Cor. 
x: 31, ' Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever 
ye do, do all to the glory of God.' Rev. xiv : 7, ' Fear God 
and give glory to him ; for the hour of his judgment is come : 
and worship him that made heaven and earth, and the sea,, 
and the fountains of waters.' Rev. xv : 4, 'Who shall not 
fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name, for thou only art 
holy : for all nations shall come, and worship before thee ; for 
thy judgments are made manifest.' 

" Man's chief and highest end is to glorify God. Civil 
society is a Divine institution. The nation has its origin in 
the will of God, who has laid a necessity for it in the con- 
stitution and nature of man ; and its powers and functions 
are determined by Him. 

" The theory that civil government is merely a ' social 
compact ' and that Supreme power is vested in the people, 
that their will is Supreme Law, and that religion should be 
entirely divorced from politics, is not only superficial but 
God-dishonoring, and will most certainly result in bringing 
upon the nation His threatened vengeance. 

" God's revealed will is given as a law to the race as weir 



POLITICS AND RELIGION. . 57 

as to individual man — it is binding upon nations as well as 
individuals, — and obedience to it can alone secure national 
as well, as individual prosperity. 

" As God is the author of national existence, and has given 
a written law which is to be the ultimate standard of right 
and wrong, it is highly important that the nation recognize 
its Author and this law given for the direction of its moral 
conduct, and nations who refuse thus to honor God place 
themselves in an attitude of rebellion against His sovereign 
authority and will. 

" If we are Christians, let us make no hypocritical preten- 
sions of founding our government on Christian principles. 
If we are Christians, and believe that Christian principles 
should dominate our whole life, let us have them incorpora- 
ted in the basis of our government, and the national policy 
shaped to them. We should then be spared the humiliation 
of seeing men high in office who persistently violate not only 
the fundamental principles of religion, but the moralities of 
heathenism, and the decencies of life. If we cannot, dare 
not, or will not reduce religion to practical life, our preten- 
sions richly deserve the satire and ridicule of the skeptic." 

A. " The practice of the nation in regard to religion ought 
to be sufficient to satisfy even the most zealous Christians. 
While the government tolerates all religious beliefs and 
authoritatively enforces none, it nevertheless appoints Chris- 
tian chaplains for the army and navy. The two houses of 
Congress elect chaplains to open their sessions with prayer. 
Governmental business is for the most part suspended on the 
Sabbath day. The Bible is used in the administration of a 
civil oath. The vested rights of rehgious bodies are pro- 
tected. 

" This ought to be sufficient. It is all that religion needs, 
and that it can safely receive at the hands of government. 
The general practice of those moral virtues which as a part 
of religion commend the soul to God, and which, as the 
equities and philanthropies of each benefit the state, is, after 



58 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

all, the best offering which a nation can offer to the God of 
nations." 

C. " An oath, in the proper sense of the term^ is not required 
by the Constitution. The form of oath prescribed for admin- 
istration to a President elect, (which is the model of all 
oaths administered under the Constitution,) is lacking in 
any expressed appeal to God ; — it is as follows, ' I do solemnly 
swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of 
President of the United States, and will, to the best of my 
ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the 
United States.' And not only is the model oath thus 
lacking ; but, in Art. VI, Sec. Ill, immediately after the 
requirement that all officers * shall be bound by oath or 
affirmation to support the Constitution,' occurs the proviso— 
' but no religions test shall ever be required as a qualification 
to any office or public trust under the United States.' By 
this proviso the Constitutional oath is degraded from the high 
and sacred position of an appeal to God to the low platform 
of a solemn promise. In view of it, an atheist, even, as he 
is about to take the oath prescribed for the President elect, 
may publicly declare his disbelief in the existence of the 
Divine Being, and no human authority can stay his inaugu- 
ration. 

"That the Constitution impliedly recognizes the Sove- 
reignty of God, is again argued from the fact that, in Art. I, 
Sec. VII, it is provided, ' If any bill shall not be returned by 
the President within ten days, (Sundays excepted,) after it 
shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law,* 
etc. It is contended that the recognition of Sunday as a 
day retired from business implies a recognition of the 
authority of the Divine Lawgiver. 

"(i.) Even upon the supposition that the proviso con- 
templates the divinely imposed obligation of the Sabbath, it 
would not necessarily imply a recognition of the Divine 
Sovereignty over the Nation. A strictly voluntary association, 
if it acts wisely, will make provision not to interfere with the 
personal obligations of its members. 



POLITICS AND RELIGION. 59 

''(2.) The proviso, however, does not necessarily imply 
a recognition of the divinely imposed obligation of the Sab- 
bath. It is, indeed, consistent with such a recognition : but, 
since the observance of regularly recurring rest-days may be 
defended on merely human considerations, it is equally con- 
sistent with the idea of a merely human origination of the 
custom of observing such days. The enactment of a law 
against murder does not necessarily imply a recognition of 
the authority of Him who ordained, 'Thou shalt not kill.' 
And so, a body of legislators may, without any intended 
reference to God, on merely human considerations, legalize 
the observance of a rest-day. An objector, however, may 
query, 'Why fix upon one day in seven^ and that Xh^ first day 
of the week .? ' The answer is patent. A body of wise 
legislators finding such an arrangement prevalent in the com- 
munity, and perceiving tha.t it is as good as any other, would 
naturally adopt it. Manifestly the proviso does not necessa- 
rily imply a recognition of the Divine Sovereignty. 

" It is also contended that the so-called concluding clause 
of the Constitution does most distinctly recognize the 
Sovereignty of our Lord Jesus Christ. The clause is in 
these words : ' Done in Convention, by the unanimous con- 
sent of the States present, the seventeenth day of September 
in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and 
eighty-seven.' etc. 

"(i.) This clause forms no part of the Constitution as 
adopted by the people. It is merely an attesting clause, 
appended to the Instrument by the Convention that framed 
it and recommended it to the people for their adoption. 

" (2.) The w^ords '' i?i the year of our Lord^' form no part 
of the clause as adopted by the Convention. They were 
inserted probably by the clerk. The clause as adopted was 
in this abbreviated form : " Done in Convention by the 
unanimous consent of the States present, the 17th of Sep- 
tember,' etc. 'In witness whereof we have hereunto sub- 
scribed our names.' See Elliott's Debates^ Vol. i^ page 317, 
{Madison's Minutes) j also^ Vol. v^p. 555, {Madisoft's Debates). 



6o ^ thp: clergy a source of danger. 

" So far from the reasons alleged showing that the Sove- 
reignty of God is implied in our Fundamental Instrument, 
a careful examination of them served to make manifest that 
there is not an implied reference therein, even to His exist- 
ence. 

" As proving that there was no designed exclusion of the 
name of God from the Constitution, and, indeed, that the 
Divine Sovereignty was fully recognized by the Federal Con- 
vention, allusion has been made to the alleged fact, that the 
sessions of that body were opened with prayer. That such 
was the fact has been frequently stated and is generally 
believed. The evidence to the contrary, however, is clear 
and decisive. The facts as set forth in the Madison Papers, 
{Elliotfs Debates, Vol. v, pages 223, 225,) are as follows: 
On the 28th of June, Benjamin Franklin, after one of his 
most able addresses, made a motion that the sessions of the 
Convention should be opened with prayer ; this motion was 
seconded by Roger Sherman, but was opposed by several 
distinguished gentlemen; the final disposition of the subject 
is presented in the following words of Madison's record : 
' After several unsuccessful attempts for silently postponing 
the matter by adjourning, the adjournment was carried 
without any vote on the motion.' The speech of Franklin, 
which was in manuscript, is preserved among his papers, 
bearing this note by himself, — ' The Convention, except three 
or four persons, thought prayers unnecessary!' 

" That is the kind of treatment we receive, and which my 
Christian friend says is sufficient to satisfy the most zealous 
Christian. When the people come to understand the nature 
of politics and of the religion of Jesus Christ, Christian 
believers will be satisfied with nothing less than w^e ask, a 
full and free acknowledgment of God's supremacy. 

" Permit me to call attention to Franklin's excellent speech. 
It shows the philosopher's heart was in the right place : 



POLITICS AND RELIGION. 6l 

*" SPEECH OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN ON HIS MOTION FOR 
PRAYERS IN THE FEDERAL CONVENTION. 

" ' Mr. President : — The small progress we have made, 
after four or five weeks' close attendance and continual 
reasonings wdth each other, our different sentiments on 
almost every question, several of the last producing as many 
noes as ayes^ is, methinks, a melancholy proof of the imper- 
fection of the human understanding. We indeed seem to 
feel our want of political wisdom, since Ave have been running 
all about in search of it. We have gone back to ancient 
history for models of government, and examined the different 
forms of those republics, which, having been originally formed 
with the seeds of their own dissolution, now no longer exist; 
and we have viewed modern states all round Europe, but find 
none of their constitutions suitable to our circumstances. 

" ' In this situation of this Assembly, groping, as it were, 
in the dark to find political truth, and scarce able to distin- 
guish it when presented to us, how has it happened, sir, 
that we have not hitherto once thought of humbly applying 
to the Father of Lights to illuminate our understandings } 
In the beginning of the contest with Britain, when we were 
sensible of danger, we had daily prayers in this room for the 
divine protection. Our prayers, sir, were heard ; — and they 
were graciously answered. All of us, who were engaged in 
the struggle, must have observed frequent instances of super- 
intending Providence in our favor. To that kind Providence 
we owe this happy opportunity of consulting in peace on the 
means of establishing our future national felicity. And have 
we now forgotten that powerful friend .'' — or, do we imagine 
we no longer need its (His) assistance .'' I have lived, sir, a 
long time ; and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs 
I see of this truth, that God govefvis in the affairs of men. 
And, if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His 
notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid.'' 
We have been assured, sir, in the Sacred Writings, that 
' except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that 



62 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

build it.' I firmly believe this; and I also believe, that, 
without his concurring aid we shall succeed in thib political 
building no better than the builders of Babel ; we shall 
become divided by our little, partial local interests, our 
projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become 
a reproach and a by- word down to future ages. And, what 
is worse, mankind may hereafter, from this unfortunate 
instance, despair of establishing government by human wis- 
dom, and leave it to chance, war, and conquest. 

" ' I therefore beg leave to move, 

" * That henceforth, prayers, imploring the assistance of 
Heaven, and its blessings on our deliberations be held in this 
Assembly every morning, before we proceed to business ; and 
that one or more of the clergy of this city be requested to 
officiate in that service. 

'* Note by Dr. Franklin. — ' The Convention except three 
or four persons, thought prayers unnecessary!' Spark's 
Works of Benjamin Franklin., Vol. v^p. 155. 

" My Christian brother, it does seem to me that no one can 
oppose this movement without giving aid and comfort to 
Sabbath- breakers, Christ-crucifying men, the Robespierre 
class of men, who want no recognition of Jehovah- Jesus, 
God's own Son, the Savior, to rule over men. 

*' There seems to be no other view that is consistent with 
the character or profession of Christianity. This is a move- 
ment too, at the proper juncture Now is the time. The 
necessities of the case call for just such action as this. 
Iniquity abounds in the high places of the land — Sabbath- 
breaking ! Infidelity ! Atheism ! Ruin ! ! These are the 
ends. ' The end of these things is death,' and nothing but 
death." 

A. "Am I to understand that if you had the power you 
would compel an observance of Sunday 1 

" In conformity with the wishes of the great majority of 
citizens of this country, the first day of the week, commonly 
called Sunday, has been set apart. The principle has received 



POLITICS AND RELIGION. 63 

the sanction of the National Legislature, so far as to admit 
a suspension of all public business on that day> except in 
cases of absolute necessity, or of great public utility. This 
principle few would wish to disturb. If kept within its 
legitimate sphere of action, no injury can result from its 
observance. It should, however, be kept in mind, that the 
proper object of government is, to protect all persons in the 
enjoyment of their religious as well as civil rights ; and not 
to determine for any Avhether they shall esteem one day 
above another, or esteem all days alike holy. 

** A variety of sentiment exists among the good citizens of 
this nation on the subject of the sabbath day ; and our gov- 
ernment is designed for the protection of one as much as 
for another. The Jews, who in this country are as free as 
Christians, and entitled to the same protection from the laws, 
derive their obligation to keep the Sabbath day from the 
fourth commandment of their decalogue, and in conformity 
with that injunction, pay religious homage to the seventh 
day of the week, which we call Saturday. One denomina- 
tion of Christians among us, justly celebrated for their piety, 
and certainly as good citizens as any other class, agree wdth 
the Jews in the moral obHgation of the Sabbath and observe 
the same day. There are also many Christians among us 
who do not derive their obligation to observe the Sabbath 
from the decalogue, but regard the Jewish Sabbath as abro- 
gated. From the example of the Apostles of Christ, they 
have chosen the first day of the week, instead of that day 
set apart in the decalogue, for their religious devotions. 
These have generally regarded the observance of the day as 
a devotional exercise, and would not more readily enforce it 
upon others, than they would enforce secret prayer or devout 
meditations. Urging the fact, that neither their Lord nor 
His disciples, though often censured by their accusers for a 
violation of the Sabbath, ever enjoined its observance, they 
regard it as a subject of which every person should be fully 
persuaded in his own mind, and not coerce others to act 
upon his persuasion. The Jewish government was a the- 



64 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

ocracy, which enforced rehgious observances, and though I 
would hope that no portion of the citizens of our country 
could willingly introduce a system of religious coercion in our 
civil institutions, the example of other nations should 
admonish us to watch carefully against its earliest indica- 
tions. 

"With these different religious views Congress cannot 
interfere. It is not the legitimate province of the Legislature 
to determine what religion is true or what false. Our Gov- 
ernment is a civil, and not a religious institution. Our 
Constitution recognizes in every person, the right to choose 
his own religion, and to enjoy it freely, without molestation. 
Whatever may be the religious sentiment of citizens — and 
however variant, they are alike entitled to protection from 
the government, so long as they do not invade the rights of 
others ; for good citizens may honestly differ in opinion, 
without disturbing the peace of society, or endangering its 
liberties. If this principle is once introduced, it will be 
impossible to define its bounds. Among all the religious 
persecutions with which almost every page of modern history 
is stained, no victim ever suffered, but for the violation of 
what government denominated the law of God. To prevent 
a similar train of evils in this country, the Constitution has 
wisely withheld from our government the power of defining 
the Divine Law. It is a right reserved to each citizen, and 
while he respects the equal rights of others, he cannot be 
held amenable to any human tribunal for his conclusions." 



IV. 



GOVERNMENT l HUMAN OR DIVINE ? 

" At length they choose, 
Old Ignorance and Bigotry must blight 
The purposes of those who dare to think 
And act against the usages of the past. 
They must be sent * * to inflame the love 
Of antiquated laws, and teach that God 
Enshrines his Godship in a holy book.'' 

— Hudson Tuttle. 

President. "This session will conclude the discussion 
for the present." 

Clergyman. '" Suppose I were an Atheist, denying the 
being and personality of God. What kind of an argument 
would I advance on this question .? Denying the existence 
and personality of God, I must oppose this Christian move- 
ment. I would not charge any one with Atheism, but must 
say that arguments in opposition to our proposal to recognize 
the sovereignty of our Maker must savor very strongly of 
the Atheistical element. Suppose I were a Deist, admitting 
the being of God, but denying the authority of Christ's 
gospel, what kind of argument would I oifer .^ I must deny 
the right, the authority of God's Law in the United States 
Constitution. To be consistent I must oppose it. 

"1 maintain, sir, ihat this is a movement in the right direc- 
tion. As a Christian I cannot take the back track, I must go 
forward, J. must recognize God, I must recognize my depend- 
ence upon Him and His Son, I must be governed by those 
blessed higher' laws that contribute to my personal benefit 
beyond the Jordan of Death. I feel that in aiming at this 
5 



66 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

purpose that I am doing exactly right. I cannot feel that 
my whole Christian education has been a mistake, a fallacy 
from the beginning, nor that of my brethren around me. We 
feel that we are doing exactly right — right in the presence of 
our fellow men, and our own consciences ; right before God 
and posterity, and right for a coming eternity. 

"We admit that we are Christians ; that our faith and prin- 
ciples are gathered from the inspiration of God, His declared 
will. It seems to me this reform is entirely consistent with 
the letter and spirit of the Great Text-Book of our Chris- 
tian faith and practice, and that we can reach no other proper 
conclusion. 

" The God of this nation was with our fathers, and they 
were successful in the great battles which they fought against • 
the powers that threatened to subject our interests and des- 
tinies to the demons of monarchy and despotism. We 
acknowledge that God who fought our battles in the first 
and last great struggle for the protection and perpetuity of 
our civil and religious institutions. We look upon God as 
that Blessed Being who has given laws eminently adapted to 
the necessities of men, and in keeping of which there is cer- 
tainly great reward. We look upon him as the Author of 
the Bible, containing a code applicable alike to the details of 
social and public life, and which if obeyed redound to the 
glory of God in the highest, and peace on earth and good 
will to men. We recognize this gi-eai fact as citizens, and 
claim that w^e should have a recognition of the being and 
personality of God and the authority of his laws, and the 
kingly authority of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the 
public syriibols of our political as well as our Christian faith. 
The duty as a nation, as a God-fearing and Christian nation, 
is to recognize God and His law as superior over all the 
kingdoms of this world. 

" Suppose the Constitution of the United States were to 
be submitted to the inspection of the Emperor of China. 
* Here,' he might say, 'this great nation is sending missiona- 
ries -to christianize China through preaching the gospel of 



government: human or divine? 67 

God Almighty and His Son Jesus Christ, and yet there is no 
recognition of God in the Constitution of that great country 
from which they come. They do not recognize God, nor 
His Law, in nor out of the principles in which these mission- 
aries are so zealous in instructing us. Let them go back 
and reco,2;nize what they try to teach us.' 

" This would be the conclusion. The nation may be a 
Christian nation, but there is no heathen that could discover 
it from the symbols of our civil and political faith. A 
heathen would see no public recognition of God in this Con- 
stitution ; he would say the nation refuses to recognize the 
Savior, and the mediatorial authority of our Lord Jesus 
Christ. Consistency requires that there should be a recog- 
nition so that an air of reverence, virtue, purity, may be 
thrown over our institutions, and God recognized in the 
high, as well as the low places of our country. 

" Safety, I think, to the institutions of this great country 
requires that this grand principle of the recognition of God 
be incorporated in these symbols of our political faith. 
What is the fact before us ? We are driving with the rapid- 
ity of time ! Whither are we drifting.^ Under the guidance 
of corruption we are drifting, as a nation, away from the 
Divine Law, from the fear of God ! But enough. Are we 
to be guided by the standard of Jehovah's Truth ? Under 
the guidance of God we must have our protection. Sir, in 
Providence is our safety." 

Anti-Religious-Amendment Christian. "What is the 
origin of civil government .'' Where does it originate .'' Well, 
says one, it originates in the will of God. Very true, in the 
same sense that God overrules everything, but as a matter of 
/act government originates with the people forming it as 
responsible agents under God. The same is also true of 
church organizations. 

*' What is the object of civil government ? Is it to teach or 
inculcate religion } Or to protect religion and the rights of 
man.' Can any one consistently say that our civil govern- 
ment in its organized capacity has a right to teach or incul- 



bo THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

cate religion ? Is that the object of the government of the 
United States ? Who that understands the principle of civil 
government has the face to say that civil government ought 
to teach religion ? Does it not exist for the purpose, rather, 
of protecting men in their civil rights by laws and penalties ? 
Is it not to protect every man to worship God according to 
the dictates of his own conscience ? Is it not that religion 
should be no test in civil matters ? The grand object of 
government among men is to protect all in their civil rights. 
Now, if this be the case, I ask the question : Is it right for 
a certain number to demand that their religious ideas shall 
be taught, and that they shall be made a test in regard to 
government, and that they shall lie at the basis of it. Is it 
for those who entertain different religious ideas ; those who 
sustain the government ; who pay the taxes ; who bear their 
share of the burden — is it right that they should be com- 
pelled to recognize any particular form of religion ? This 
movement is inaugurated for the purpose not only of recog- 
nizing the true God and the Savior, but that they should 
have the Christian religion incorporated in the Constitution. 
This is plainly declared in the Christian Statesman^ the organ 
of the reform. It is an utter perversion of our civil compact 
to incorporate any form of religion in the fundamental law 
of the land, and I thank God that our forefathers were wise 
enough to see this thing. 

" Does it dishonor God, and His Son Jesus Christ, to omit 
their names in the Constitution, and God's law as the source 
of power in the civil government .? I cannot see it, my friend. 
God is not honored in words. He is to be worshiped ' in 
spirit and in truth.' It is in the hearts of His subjects and 
not in constitutions that he is to be honored. The Pharisees 
had the name of God written on their phylacteries so that 
all men might know they reverenced Him. So great was 
their reverence that they would not even pronounce the 
name of Jehovah on all occasions ; but they did not hesitate 
to despoil widows' houses, I am suspicious of those who 
are such sticklers for the name of God. 



government: human or divin'^:? 69 

" But does it dishonor Christ by not mentioning his name 
in the Constitution ? Will the introduction of his name in 
the Constitution of our country make more Christians. Will 
it not make more hypocrites and be a disgrace to the church 
of Christ ? Will not persons like some in the Church of 
England, unite with the church for the sake of getting 
office ? Do you suppose that the mere fact of Christ's name 
in that instrument will make men more honest ? I cannot 
see this in the light of history. In the mere fact of making 
this a government for all classes and conditions of men there 
is nothing to dishonor the Christian, for every liberty is there 
provided in the instrument for all to worship God freely in 
their own way. 

" There is in the Constitution nothing against Christianity, 
nothing opposed to it. Every one has the privilege of wor- 
shiping; none are prohibited the free exercise of religious 
liberty ; there is no abridging the freedom of speech ; all are 
guaranteed the right of petition. The people have the right 
to peaceably assemble and petition the government for 
redress of grievances ; to worship God according to the 
dictates of their own consciences. Thus much for the 
theory in this matter. 

" There is a lesson in a practical and historical point of 
view. A wise man has said, ' History is philosophy teaching 
by example.' What is the example ? There is the point of 
interest to us. The spiritual religion, the religion of Jesus 
Christ and the Bible, is not to be propagated by any great 
consolidated organization. The religion of Christ is not 
designed to be advanced by any such means, whether eccle-^ 
siastical or political. This is the basis upon which I place 
myself. 

" In view of this great principle, and in the face of history, 
these beloved brethren may succeed in combining the civil 
and religious governments at last. First, through a recog- 
nition of Jesus Christ, the Bible and God, by the nation in 
its organic capacity; then may fearful things come upon us. 
To force religion upon men by law — you cannot make men 



yo THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

accept any such thing by a law; you cannot give Christianity 
power except in the lives of men. The idea of civil gov- 
ernment is not to teach religion, but to protect men in their 
rights by laws and penalties, to protect the right of all classes, 
to protect every one who bears the burdens of government, 
every member of the family to be secured against oppression. 
Let us have the Chinese come, and not force upon them any 
form of religion. Christianity must depend upon the law of- 
love for its power ; the influences of the Holy Spirit for its 
propagation through the ordained instrumentalities of teach- 
ing the pure religion of Jesus Christ, viz. : the churches and 
the families. If it cannot stand in that way it will not stand 
in any other way. That is the reason, my dear friend, why 
I entertain this view. I believe the religion of the Bible to 
be a spiritual religion. In the name of Christianity I want 
it to stand separate from, the State; to stand in its pure 
virginity, promoting good vv^ill and peace among men by the 
power of divine love." 

C. " We are not misunderstood when we propose to do 
the work all for the glory of God, all in the name of the 
Lord Jesus Christ. We are not misunderstood when we say 
we hope to bring all to the standard of the law of God, His 
revealed will ; when we say that everything that is not ac- 
cording to God's revealed will has no light in it — no love, no 
truth. I do say, in regard to this matter of being compre- 
hended, that learned gentlemen, logical gentlemen, honest 
gentlemen who fearlessly proclaim themselves as opposed to 
this Christian Movement fully comprehend our meaning: 
they acknowledge us to be honest, consistent men. We are 
happy to meet on this floor of discussion men who are honest 
enough to throw off all disguises of that bad cause, and who 
argue so ingeniously that you would think the 'worst the 
better reason.' "'^ 

* This charge of sophistry was made in a Christian Convention against 
the author of this book. The clergy on that occasion applied to hnn such 
expressive terms as "Infidel," "'Atheist," "Blasphemer," " Scofler," etc., 
all of which he enjoyed with unspeakable satisfaction, for they were evi- 
dences that his clerical opponents in that Oskaloosa Convention could not 
meet his arguments. 



government: human or divine? 71 

" But we do feel sorrow and grief that you, my Christian 
.brother, should not recognize our mutual obligation to God 
and our country. These words spoken by you are words of 
comfort to the common enemy. In the ultimate bearing 
they will encourage the Inhdel in his opposition to Chris- 
tianity, in opposition to God. My opinion is, we must honor 
the empire of His Son in the world. At the name of Christ 
every knee shall bow, every tongue confess ; everything in 
Heaven and earth shall result in glory to God. We bow 
reverently and say, Blessed be tlie name of God, and the 
name of the Savior who has done so much for man's interest; 
and now it is the prayer of our heart that the good Lord will 
save us from 01/ rse/z'es / In the organization that we have 
•effected we seek the welfare of our country. We pledge 
■ourselves to submission to God as our King and Law-Giver 
as revealed in the will of God. We must understand our 
duty, our obligations, and our interest, and leave the conse- 
quences to God. The opposition has advanced this idea of 
man's sovereignty in civil government. God only knows 
what it would lead to if it were carried out ! There is no 
dependence to be placed on the w^ill of man to govern. The 
people on one day cried, ^ Hosanna, blessed is the King of 
Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord.' What did they 
do the next ? ' Crucify him, crucify him ! ' That is the 
sovereignty of the people. W^e propose in this great move- 
ment to guard society from human impulses, from the uncon- 
trolled will of man. There is a safeguard, and God has 
given it to us. Righteous are his laws. He has given a 
rightful rule which says, ' Thus far shalt thou go, and no 
further.' Can man save \\s? Has he a law which teaches 
thus far and no further ? That is what no one dare assert. 
What is the true theory of -government ? All power inheres 
in God, substantially in God. When you ask what is the 
design of government, we answer, it is for the glory of God. 
Man is by nature a religious being, and is by nature a social 
being. If a man says he is not a religious being, then he 
lives but for to-day, recognizes no power higher than himself, 



72 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

makes a god of his belly, and glories in his shame. Where 
you see no fear of God, you see corruption. We want a 
government that shall honor the Lord Jesus Christ, 

" In the taking of an oath nothing is recognized. The 
religion of Christ, of the Bible, requires that an oath should 
be in the name of God. ' Thou shalt fear the Lord and 
swear by His name.' The Psalmist expresses it, 'I will lift 
up my hands in Thy name.' How finely this is expressed : 
* Lifting up holy hands without wrath or doubting,' If there 
is anything awful it is when man names the name of his 
God ! at the bar of his God swears his allegiance to the 
country and to God. That is what we call religion in gov- 
ernment. It is not that government shall administer the 
sacrament, or baptism, or the Lord's Supper. We want no 
Church-and-State union. We want to avoid the evil that 
portends from the growing system of Roman Catholicism^ 
and their Popes, and their dark, deep designs. It is not 
such Church-and-State union as here indicated in the Popes 
and in the character of the Roman Church and the Roman 
religion that we want to see. But now we have no safeguard. 
Is Infidelity, or an Infidel form of government a safeguard 
of society.^ Has God left us to that which in its history has 
been cruel as the grave ? We have had the presentation of 
the view in this Convention as if there was nothing else dan- 
gerous but the religion of the Savior ! But I say that Infi- 
delity, when it had the power, cursed the land ; that system 
when if had the power, set up a harlot to be worshiped, and 
on the other hand profaned the name of God. We must 
have a safeguard. We must be guarded against Infidelity 
as well as false religion. We know the history of the world 
teaches that false religion, Atheism, Infidelity, are equally 
dishonoring to God and ruinous to man. 

" Union of Church and State. We hold that Church and 
State are God-ordained institutions. Some suppose that 
God's government and man's government are entirely dis- 
tmct. If we are going to designate them by any particular 
terms, we would discriminate by calling the Church the 



government: human or divine? 73 

'sister,' and the State the 'brother.' She would regard his 
purity, would purify him by her genial influence, and improve 
his character and life. What do we ask the brother to do ? 
To defend the privileges of the sister that he loves. The 
Church has a brother in the State, and God is their Heav- 
enly father. ' United in those heavenly relations they love 
each other fervently. 

" There is nothing sectarian in this movement. The 
acknowledgment of God is not sectarian. The acceptance 
of the Bible as a guide is not sectarian. There is nothing 
claimed but what the nation owes to God." 

A. " Let us look at this matter in a historical point of 
view. How does it happen that there has been such a terri- 
ble perversion of Christianity } During the dark ages what 
terrible oppressions in the name of our holy religion .? Al- 
though Christianity comes as a beautiful virgin out of the 
hands of our Redeemer, the idea of Church power, in refer- 
ence to outward organizations was first entertained in the 
Church for the purpose of protection against the inroads of 
heresy. Paganism, and the crushing power of the Roman 
Empire. This was the object of the grand consolidation of 
Church and State. Mark you, I am speaking of the original 
Christians who became Catholics. Previous to this, in Apos- 
tolic times, the Christians were united here and there by the 
bonds of love in the simplest church organizations. The 
ecclesiastical combination was first effected for self-protec- 
tion. This was done in all sincerity — as these brethren are 
doing here in America. They thought they were engaged 
in God's work. I do not doubt my brethren are honest in 
thinking they are doing God's service. We often do honest 
things that are disastrous. 

" The clerical above the people; then they must begin to 
introduce the idea of Episcopus^ that is, a Bishop, then a 
Lord Bishop. Here was church organization. The churches 
began to be corrupt before they gained power in the civil 
government. Remember there was no Protestantism then. 
The Catholic Church was the only Christian Church on earth. 



74 'i'HE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

They must have a papa^ a father, a pope. How innocent it 
appeared at first — a good father should be over them to pro- 
tect them, for defence. The next step was, ' none could be 
saved who were out of the Church.' ^ Extra Ecdcsiam nulla 
salus' Then the Pope was not to be the 'Head of the 
Church ' merely, but the 'Ruler of Nations,' and Emperors 
as great as Charles V must even pay obedience to the Pope 
of Rome. It was against the supremacy of the Pope that 
Henry VIII rebelled. The English Church was a modifica- 
tion of the Church of Rome. 

" Now, my friend, you see how it was once felt necessary 
for the Church to exercise power and control in State affairs. 
When the power was gained then came the fearful oppres- 
sion that weighed down the people. It was a long time 
before Luther could see it, and yet he was not to our concep- 
tions of to-day more than half Protestant. Things that he 
admitted at Wittenburg w^ould astonish my charitable brother 
here exceedingly , but we praise Luther because he stood at 
the ' Diet of Worms ' and defended Protestantism, and yet it 
was only half Protestantism. He still held to certain ideas 
of Church consolidation, that Church and State must be 
combined. From these ideas resulted the civil wars of 
France, during the last half of the i6th and first half of the 
17th centuries, including the massacre of Protestants on St. 
Bartholomew's Eve, and at last of the driving out of the 
500,000 Huguenots, and the terrible ' thirty years w^ar ' on the 
Continent, the most devastating and fearful event that ever 
swept over Europe. 

" The Church of England drove the Puritans to Holland, 
and from there they came to this country, but even they 
were not fully emancipated from the spirit of intolerance 
and a desire to incorporate religion into the State, as has 
been shown. How stands the case now.? I do not dispute 
the honesty of these beloved brethren. I have never thought 
that they were dishonest in the expression of their opinion ; 
but I fear the results of this making the power of the gov- 
ernment an ecclesiastical power. Any force to convert men 



GOVERNMENT : HUMAN OR DIVINE ? 75 

to Christianity, except the truth contained therein, is not the 
method, is not the system, in my estimation, which is designed 
by God to promote His pure and holy reUgion. 

" There is another dangerous feature to this question. 
Get your amendment allowing none but Christians to hold 
office and manage the affairs of the government, and what 
will be the result? Then comes the question, 'Who are 
Christians ? ' 

" How is it in China ? The Jesuits are there converting 
the Chinese who are flooding this country all along the 
Pacific coast, and since the completion of the Pacific Rail- 
road have already begun to pour into the Mississippi Valley. 
Catholicism has made rapid headway in Ireland and Mexico. 
From those countries a surplus of power can be sent. France 
and Spain can spare thousands of Catholics. The Catholics 
are making rapid headway in converting the blacks of the 
South. Put that amendm.ent in the Constitution, and the 
Pope, now driven off his throne, and probably looking out 
for a new foothold, will send his emissaries to convert the 
blacks of this country. Ten, twenty, twenty-five years from 
now and the Catholics may have the votes and you will see 
a union of Church and State under the Pope. It w^ill then 
become a popular measure, and you may yet be the means 
of assisting that great Popish Church to power. 

" ' We as a nation, have experienced throughout our whole 
history the most signal manifestations of God's protecting 
and fostering care, while even the name of God is unknown 
to the Constitution itself.' All of which is as good proof as 
we want that God is not displeased with the work of our 
forefathers, who did not think it proper to mix the great and 
good name of God, and the glorious cause of the Christian 
religion with civil government." 

LiBERALiST. " My clerical friend says Infidelity is ' cruel 
as the grave.' This is a specimen of the usual twaddle 
against Free Inquiry. Doubt is Superstition's deadliest foe. 
A Christian is afraid to doubt ; believes he endangers his 
soul's eternal happiness by doubting ; yet to the spirit of 



76 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

Free Inquiry is the world indebted for its civilization. The 
disposition to investigate cultivates the intellect, and what- 
ever expands the intellect weakens Christianity. All that is 
really valuable in Protestant Christianity is composed mainly 
of this element of doubt. But the superstition in Protest- 
antism is more virulent than in Catholicism, and destroys 
the liberal tendencies which might otherwise characterize 
the Protestant religion. Inquiry has always been looked 
upon by bigots as fatal to belief. Voltaire did more in 
uprooting old prejudices than did Luther and all his coadju- 
tors. He more effectually delivered people from supersti- 
tion. Wherever Christianity has had undisputed sway it has 
stifled inquiry and dug the grave of every doubt that came 
within the reach of its merciless grasp." 

C. " The tendency of public sentiment is towards law- 
lessness, disregard of authority, laxity of principle in secular 
affairs. This is not surprising, considering our political 
theory. Men are not likely to hold in high esteem a law 
that has for its authority but barely a despised majority. In 
our legislation who will be influenced by an appeal to 
religious principles that are studiously excluded from the 
fundamental law } A quotation from the Gospels in Con- 
gressional debates would be heard with derision. In framing 
laws, no higher standard is appealed to than heathen moral- 
ity. Hence, we who glory in the Christian religion as the 
savior unto life, in time as well as eternity, are bound to the 
dead carcass of heathenism, and our national life will rot 
with it. What shall deliver us from the body of this death } 

" As against the conclusion that there is an important 
religious defect in our Fundamental Instrument, is alleged our 
continued prosperity under it. God, it is argued, would not 
permit the prolonged prosperity of a Government based upon 
an instrument in which His Sovereignty was sinfully ignored. 
The argument takes for granted that God will always punish 
immediately. On the contrary. He may permit a nation which 
ignores His authority to go on to the highest pitch of pros- 
perity and power, that He may m.ake manifest His sover- 



government: human or divine? 77 

eignty in its humiliation. He permitted the tower of Babel 
to reach a mountain height before He confounded the lan- 
guage of the builders. And from this point of view the 
following sentence in the speech of Dr. Franklin assumes 
portentous proportions : ' I believe that without His concur- 
ring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better 
than the builders of Babel ; we shall become divided by our 
little, partial, local interests, our projects will be confounded, 
and we ourselves will become a reproach and a by-word 
down to future ages.' May not our Constitution, confessedly 
one of the master-pieces of human wori^:manship, — framed 
(alas ! without reference to God) ^ to form a mo7'e perfect 
union^ and secure the blessing of liberty to ourselves and to our 
posterity^' or, in other words, built, as was Babel, '' lest we 
sJiould be scattered abroad^' — may it not prove another Babel 
w^hich shall serve to make manifest that Jehovah is jealous 
for His honor.? It is a fearfully significant fact that the 
Troubles from which God has recently delivered us arose 
from confusion of language in regard to the very Constitution 
which was the tower of our hope, and the troubles v/hich 
now threaten us arise from a similar confusion. May it not 
be that in our past deliverance He manifested His forbearing 
mercy by giving us opportunity to repent; an opportunity 
which, if not improved, will be followed by an utter destruc- 
tion not only of the government based upon the Constitution, 
"but of the Constitution itself.-^ 

" No thoughtful observer can entertain doubt as to the 
glorious future of this people. It may be, however, that for 
that glory we are to be prepared by national chastisements 
"bitter and severe, scourging us to the recognition of Jehovah 
as our King. If indeed, our fathers erred in not according 
unto Him the honor due, let us not wait for further chastise- 
ment, but perform our duty now. Let us inscribe His name 
upon our banner, that v/e may be that happy people whose 
acknowledged God is the Lord. 

" Says Plutarch, ' Religion is the bond of all society and 
the pillar of all legislation.' Montesque, 'Religion is the 



78 THE cler(;y a source of danger. 

support of society.' Washington, 'Religion and morality 
are indispensable supports to political prosperity.' Burke, 
' Religion is the basis of civil society.* Dr. Bushnell, ' From 
the atheistic error in our prime conceptions of government 
has arisen the atheistic habit of separating politics from 
religion.' Dr. Tyng, ' The production of God's revealed 
will as the rule to be adopted for the government of man ; 
the reverent assertion that his law should be the only line of 
human dominion ; the position assumed that human society 
should be organized and governed for the purpose of spread- 
ing his truth and giving knowledge of his salvation, was far 
less scorned in Nineveh or Babylon, than it would be now in 
the Parliament of Britain or the Congress of the United 
States. The apostacy of man then ruled upon the plea of 
open idolatry, here on the more offensive and scornful ground 
01 absolute infidelity.' 

" Now the question arises, has a man the right to oppose 
rights and thus favor and propagate wrong .? That he has 
the power so to do, we admit ; but the first proposition we 
most positively deny. A man never has the right, under 
any circumstances, to do wrong, and if he does so is amenable 
at the tribunal of right. As well might we say that a man 
has the right to take his own life, because he has the power 
to do so. It is the duty of every Christian man, to be fully 
ready, at any and every moment, to advocate the claims of 
the Christ who bought him ; and it is absolutely sin in that 
man, to co-operate with the enemies of his Master, in their 
efforts to hinder the progress of His great work. 

'' The work of the whole train of unbelievers is to denounce 
every Christian movement as 'fanatical,' and tending to per- 
sonal injury ; but it is the work of the believer to build up 
the cause of truth and righteousness, and when he forsakes 
this sphere, he makes a most vital stab at the cause he pro- 
fesses to love. As we have repeatedly said, there is no neutral 
ground between right and wrong. We are either friends to 
the right or wrong. There is no disputing this ; and when 



GOVERNMENT : HUMAN OR DIVINE ? 79 

we join with the rabble to crucify Christ, we are verily guilty 
of consenting to His death." 

A, " The great requirement of humanity is that the laws 
of a nation shall be general in their scope and application, 
equal and impartial to all. You ask, ' Has a man the right 
to oppose right ? ' What is right ? The answer is as variant 
as human organizations are different. So far as human legis- 
lation has gone, it has left man as it found him — strong if he 
were strong before, and weak, if he were weak. Law, to be 
true to nature, must acknowledge the equality of all men 
and women ; not the equality of their physical, moral, or 
intellectual powers, but the universality and equality of 
human rights. Government has guaranteed the freedom of 
man's nature, not \hQ powers of it. The true position of gov- 
ernment is in favor of general legislation and against special 
privileges. To acknowledge God as the source of authority 
in government is to deny that the people are the source of 
all political power, which denial lays the foundation for the 
divine right of kings. 

" In respect to matters purely of a religious nature : If the 
nation acknowledged one sect it would offend against the 
rights of all other sects. If it took into favor the religion of 
the majority, it would tyrannize over the minority; if it 
established the religion of the Christian, it would disfranchise 
the Infidel, Jew and Heathen. To say that a man has no 
right to oppose right can receive one answer applicable to 
all cases. No man has a right to infringe upon the rights of 
mankind. If this principle is correct, (and who denies it.?) 
your Movement is wrong." 

L. " Infidels have afforded you Christians a great deal of 
material for sermons. We do not know that we are enemies 
to the man, Jesus Christ. He was an infidel to the church 
of his time, and was generally as outspoken against political 
and religious corruption as infidels of modern times. You 
have made him the founder of your religious system, a hero, 
a god. You have inculcated in the minds of the people for 
the man Jesus a superstitious reverence. If you can succeed 



8o THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

in having him acknowledged king of nations, temporal as 
well as spiritual, then will be inaugurated a State-religion to 
be supported at the public expense. The issue is plain : 
Either government is divine^ or it is human. 

"In your efforts to crush out free thought you will never 
rest until you secure your own overthrow ; although at first 
you will meet with considerable success, which will inflate 
you with a desire for yet greater achievements. Gentlemen, 
were I a Christian and felt as I think a Christian must feel, 
that the kingdom of Christ should rule on earth as in heaven, 
I do not see how I could consistently oppose the movement. 
As it is, being an anti-Christian, I must oppose it, and think 
I am serving my country in so doing. Logically your whole 
Christian scheme is at variance with human government, and 
favorable to priestly and kingly rule. Divine government : 
its meaning is despotism. Human government, on the con- 
trary, signifies that we shall rule ourselves. Our desire is the 
perpetuity of the Republic. The Christian prayer is that it 
may be superseded by a kingdom. This sentiment is con- 
tained in the prayer which, judged by a Christian standard, 
is the Model Prayer. Every time a Christian repeats the 
' Lord's Prayer ' he desires the overthrow of our American, 
infidel, form of government. ' Our Father which art in 
heaven. Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come.' We 
want no kingdom. A Republic, or pure Democracy, is the 
true type of government. The nations are weary of king- 
doms, and are outgrowing them. It was well enough for 
men in the infancy of their race to imagine that heaven was 
a kingdom. They knew no better then. They do now. 
Every Republican and Democrat should favor a revision and 
improvement of the ' Lord's Prayer ' and also omit the first 
word of its title." 



V. 



AN 
"■ Bigotry trembles and quivers with fear." — Nettie M. Pease. 

Among the many able men who are enlisted in the Move- 
ment for recognizing God in the Constitution, stands one 
who may be deemed a Goliath in the service of God. That 
man is the famous opponent of Free Masonry, President 
Blanchard, of Illinois, He delivered a speech at the Cleri- 
cal Convention, in Monmouth, 111., in the spring of 1871. 
It may be considered as fairly representing the earnestness 
of the clergy in the political-religious struggle in which they 
are embarked. Mr. Blanchard and his speech were heartily 
endorsed by their official organ in. its issue of April 15 : 

"Pres. Blanchard's address before the Convention at Mon- 
mouth, which we give entire from the author's manuscript, 
needs no special commendation from us to secure for it the 
attention of every reader. Its vigor, point, and clear, sharp 
logic will be duly appreciated. There never was a great 
political question which opened up so wide a field for study 
and demanded such profound and careful thinking as that 
in behalf of which this address was delivered. Our readers 
will notice a marked feature of this address — its stinging 
sarcasm. That man must be daring indeed who would ven- 
ture to measure his sword against Brest. Blanchard's keen 
and flashing blade. We are persuaded that calm and solid 
argument must do the greater part of the important work 
before us. 

" This is what carries weight and produces conviction with 
thoughtful and earnest men. But there is a class of shallow 
writers, who sagely pronounce judgment in regard to a ques- 
tion which they have not even begun to study, and whose 
anxiety to be popular leads them into inconsistent statements. 
6 



82 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

Such meet their appropriate treatment and get their richly- 
merited deserts at the hands of the author of this admirable 
address, while thoughtful students of political science will 
find in it a closely reasoned argument worthy of their pro- 
foundest consideration." — Christian Statesman. 

Hundreds of speeches of similar import have been de- 
livered. It is my purpose to fairly and fully present the 
arguments upon which God-in-the-Constitution Christians 
rely for success. If those arguments cannot be refuted, 
then, eventually, the people will be compelled to yield up 
the democratic principle of self government, and submit to 
the imperial sway of the priesthood. 

"ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT BLANCHARD : 

DELIVERED AT THE MONMOUTH CONVENTION. 

"We are an English nation. We have received immi- 
grants, speaking other tongues, enough to people States ; 
but not enough to organize a Legislature, enact a law, or try 
a case in court. And if we wish to know whether our insti- 
tutions are christian, pagan, or atheist, we must go back to 
the fires that forged them. 

" The founder of the English Constitution, and the framer 
of its first code of laws, was annointed king by the pretended 
vicegerent of Christ. He translated the Book of Psalms 
into English ; and (Hume, even, relates it without a sneer,) 
spent one-third of his time in study and devotion. Alfred 
the great was a christian, and founded a christian State. 

" Blackstone, who, one hundred and thirteen years ago, 
(1758,) expounded, in Oxford, the system inherited from 
Alfred, is, to-day, read by more Americans than Englishmen. 
His Commentaries are the first book which is put into the 
hands of students of law, who are told by American Judges, 
that, ' The man who understands Blackstone, is a good 
lawyer.' 

" This great writer, eight centuries and a half after Alfred, 
found the English system polished and jDerfected by progress. 
But eight hundred years of English history had not taught 



AN AMBASSADOR OF GOD. 63 

him that Christianity was a dangerous element in the British 
Constitution, or, that its distinct profession and printed 
avowal, as the basis of English laws, had made the English 
people inferior to their neighbors. The language of Black- 
stone is explicit. He says, ' Every man finds that his reason 
is corrupt, and his understanding full of ignorance and error.' 
And he holds that God has seen fit, in compassion to us, to 
discover and enforce the laws of reason by distinct revela- 
tion. ' The doctrines thus delivered,' he continues, ' we call 
'The Revealed or Divine Law,' and they are to be found 
in the Holy Scriptures. ' Upon these two laws, the law of 
Nature and the law of Revelation, depend all human laws.' 
i^Blackstone^ Int.^ Sec. 2d.) 

" Nor has more than a century's experience taught the 
American disciples of Blackstone, since we have cast off for- 
ever all organic union of Church and State, and have no 
voting Bishops in our Senate, as they have in their ' House 
of Lords,' that the legal profession and avowal of the truth 
of the christian religion is dangerous to the Republic, or to 
the liberty of its citizens. Our most learned Judges and 
Jurists have not been afraid of the Bible, nor of saying they 
beheve in it. 

"The Supreme Judges of Pennsylvania say from the 
Bench, ' No free government now exists in the world, unless 
where Christianity is acknowledged, and is the religion of the 
country.' And, in the same case, Daniel Webster said, 
' There is nothing we look for with more certainty than this 
general principle that Christianity is a part of the law of the 
land.' ^ Every thing declares it. The massive Cathedral of 
the Catholic ; the Episcopalian church with its spire point- 
ing heavenward ; the plain temple of the Quaker ; the log 
church of the hardy pioneers of the wilderness ; the memen- 
toes and memorials around and about us ; the consecrated 
grave-yards ; their tombs and epitaphs, their silent 
vaults, their mouldering contents, all attest it. The 
dead prove it, as well as the living. The genera- 
tions that are gone before speak it and pronounce it 



84 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER, 

from the tomb. We feel it. All, all, j^roclaim that Christi- 
anity ; general, tolerant Christianity ; Christianity independ- 
ent of sects and parties ; that Christianity to which the sword 
and faggot are unknown ; yes, general, tolerant Christianity 
is the law of the land.' {^Gu\ Will Case, Web., vol. 6, 176.) 

" Now, some of our friends admit this, and argue from it 
that we ought to be content with it. They say. The Consti- 
tution recognizes the Common Law, and Christianity is part 
of that law ; therefore the Constitution recognizes Christian- 
ity. But if this be so, if the laws acknowledge Christianity, 
why should not the mother of laws, the Constitution, without 
whose consent, implied or proved, laws cannot draw breath ; 
— why should not this law, underlying all other laws, so 
acknowledge it .'' How comes this strange phenomenon, 
that, the invariable parties of despotism, viz., priests and 
infidels, have alarmed our fathers, lest a printed acknowledg- 
ment of the Bible should make oar government despotic ; 
turn it into Church and State, and coerce conscience, like 
Italian priests ; or chop off heads, like French atheists } 
What has the Bible done, during the thousand years since 
Alfred the Great, that the very apostles of despotism and 
disorganization, priests and infidels, should succeed in 
alarming us concerning its recognition by our Constitution ? 

" The Bible has not burnt heretics. The priests, Avho 
hate the Bible, and whom our atheists love and vote with, 
did that. The Bible forbids it. Christ and Christianity 
forbid it. Christian Churches have neither jails nor sheriffs, 
nor dungeons, nor thumb-screws, nor torture-boots, nor 
racks. These all belonged to the gentlemen of the Cincin- 
nati School Board and their brethren, who vote the Bible 
out of Schools ! But what has this hated and hunted Bible 
been doing this last thousand years ? 

" I will not attempt to answer. Christian Civilization 
answers — has answered it. The Bible has emancipated the 
serfs of Europe and the slaves of America. The title deeds 
of emancipated villains, from Alfred down, run, ''pro amoi-e 
Christi,' ^ pro salute aniince ;' for the love of Christ and the 



85 

salvation of the soul, thus showing that the Bible emancipated 
them. And we all know, for he declared it, that Mr. 
Lincoln's Proclamation of Emancipation was the result of 
his ' votas to God.' 

" And now, are we to be scared from our proprieties ; and 
the blessed Bible, which has for ages been striking the 
manacles from man, be set aside and insulted — cast out 
from our schools first, and next, perhaps, from our families 
and courts of law, by men who are re-building the cloisters 
which cursed the dark ages, and their human jackals, the 
atheists of the barricades and the guillotine 7 

" I am not speaking in condemnation of the Catholic 
Church ; that church in which Luther prayed and found 
Christ ; in which Pascal wrote ; and Fenelon was an arch- 
bishop ; and Father Hyacinthe is a priest. I am censuring 
the Jesuits and their shadows, the atheists, who result from 
and follow them. ' The Society of Jesus ' was formed 1540 
years after Christ, and twenty-three years after the inaugu- 
ration of Luther's Reform — formed by a Spanish soldier and 
ignorant fanatic. Its members, the Jesuits, after being ex- 
pelled by the kingdoms and principalities of Europe, as 
poisoners-general, and absolvers of poisoners, were sup- 
pressed and outlawed by the Pope himself, a little less than 
a century ago (1773). 

" It seems not generally known that the Romish priests in 
this country are Jesuits, and it is not sufficiently considered 
that Jesuitism is something very distinct from the Catholic 
Church proper — so distinct that the head of the Church, 
Clement XIV, suppressed it. Yet these Jesuits are the men 
who stand at every schoolhouse door in the United States, 
demanding the expulsion, not only of King James' version, 
but of the Douay version, and all versions of the Bible. 
And as mere atheist schools never did and never can sub- 
sist, as such, but a little while, the Jesuits intend and 
expect to control the schools. 

" They wish to control the schools, where our law-makers 
are taught, because they mean to control the government and 



86 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

the revenue. Yes ; it is this once suppressed Order, from which 
Europe turned away aghast, that now stands forth in this 
country, with no change in its principles, and no abatement 
of its spirit, demanding the keys of the schoolhouse, the 
keys of know^ledge, and the keys of the national exchequer ! 

" The relevancy of this to Christianizing the Constitution 
is, that the questions include each other. If the arm of the 
State is to hold the Bible in our schools it must have the 
Constitutional . right to do so, which it certainly has not, 
while the letter of our Constitution knows no difference 
between Jesus Christ and the smeared log of wood set on 
end, to which the South Sea Islander sacrifices his hog. 

" But it is said : ' The wisdom of our fathers left the 
Constitution in its terms indifferent to God and religion, and 
there let us leave it.' 

" I answer, that the wisdom of our fathers was the wisdom 
of men in distress. They were meeting the bills of a seven 
years' w^ar. They were poor ; and ' the poor useth en- 
treaties.' They were bankrupt by the failure of their ' Con- 
tinental money.' Republicanism was an experiment. They 
had struggled up to it through their own honest fears for its 
success. They had rushed upon republicanism while pur- 
suing the retreating troops of the king, as soldiers upon a 
bridge, by night, in a tempest, and the stream at flood, 
without knowing whether the enemy might not destroy the 
pier on the opposite shore, and they sink in the stream of 
time as all the old republics had sunk. 

" Nor was this all. They had been fighting against 
English battalions, in support of English principles, and the 
liberties of Englishmen. They were themselves Englishmen, 
and the children of Englishmen ; and yet their beloved 
country was torn and bleeding by the teeth and claws of the 
British lion 1 

" In that evil hour, Satan had suddenly turned democrat. 
He had pushed a gay, brilliant and unstable people from 
their old Bourbon moorings, and has kept them, ever since, 
vibrating, pendulum-like in politics, between Agrarianism 



AN "ambassador OF GOD." 87 

and Empire ; and, in religion, between the fool's-cap of the 
atheist and the cowl of the priest. That strange people 
lent us money, and sent us war vessels in sight of our coasts , 
not so much to help us, as to harm England. 

" So strange, so wonderful are human affairs. France, 
trained for centuries to hate English Protestantism and 
constitutional liberty, now helped us establish both, in order 
to weaken her hated rival. Thus — 

* The busy trifler deems himself alone, 
Frames many a purpose, and God works his own.' 

" Nevertheless, France had helped us, and our fathers 
Avere grateful. French democracy, too, w^as then at its 
zenith, like a cold and fickle Aurora Borealis, dazzling the 
dark heavens of all Europe. What American Puritans had 
done by faith in Christ, the French democrats undertook to 
do in contempt of Him. In 1787, while our Constitution was 
being framed, they had obtained a cheap celebrity by sub- 
duing their king, who, though not the best man nor the best 
king that France ever had, was, doubtless, the best French- 
man that ever wore a crown. Six years later they brought 
him to the block. England had beheaded her Charles I ; 
why not France her Louis XVI .'' Americans were demo- 
crats; why not Frenchmen.^ But then they must be 
original in something ; so they conclude to be atheists ! 
Then, indeed they will be free ; freer than cattle, and more 
brutish ! 

" There is no God in priestcraft ; nothing but shows and 
inventions. The people find it out, and become atheists. 
Then they become wretches, and fly back to priestism as 
the lightest curse of the two. 

" But France had not worked this sum through to its 
answer. French democracy looked lovely when our 
constitution was framed, and many of our people were 
charmed with it. Such were the people and such the 
causes, which gave us a Constitution containing no recog- 
nition of God, except its date, to distinguish us from 
Africans who worship a baboon. 



88 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

" Nor were gratitude to the French, and the reaction of 
their sentiments, the sole, perhaps not the chief, causes 
which made the terms of our Constitution neutral respecting 
Christianity. American party-politics began before the 
Constitution was born. It was foregone that if there was to 
be a President, Washington must be he. The Puritan John 
Adams followed ; and Jefferson, who excelled as statesman 
and demagogue, both simulated French principles and used 
them for his elevation to the Presidential chair. True, he 
had said in the Declaration of Independence, that ' God had 
created all men equal ; ' but he was careful to insert that, 
after God had created men, he left them to themselves ; so 
that ' Governments derive their just powers from the consent of 
the governed^ ' though it is presumable that he never saw one 
of his sheriffs obtain consent of the man whom he was 
hanging, during his whole administration. But French infi- 
delity had made rapid progress since July '76, and, in the 
eleven intervening years, had become strong enough to 
exclude the very name of God from our national Consti- 
tution in 1787. 

" Such is the history of our national mistake. Such the 
causes which induced the most intelligently religious people 
on earth, a people who, in their national capacity, fasted, and 
prayed, and gave thanks to God, to exclude His name and 
sanction from their Constitution; though they call on Him 
by their chaplains, appeal to Him by the oath, in their 
wills, and legal forms ; and declare, in their very indict- 
ments, the crime to have been committed without the fear of 
God, and by instigation of the devil. 

" This piece of history explains our Constitutional status. 

" Priests and atheists excluded the Bible from our Con- 
stitution. Priests and atheists together voted out the Bible 
from the Cincinnati schools : and the same parties seek to 
push it from our national free schools, where the minds 
come from to administer our government; and for what .? 
Not that they expect governments to stand denuded of 
ideas of God and religion. They know that that 



AN "ambassador OF GOD." 89 

never was and never will be. But, as when one force dis- 
places another, the displacing force takes the place of the 
one displaced, they mean to crowd out the blessed Bible, 
the word of God, from American institutions, and put into 
its place the word of a priest. 

" But this their hope would be vain and illusory were Protest- 
ants agreed among themselves. But as if wonders were 
never to cease, the papers which put themselves most 
decidedly on record against recognizing Christianity in our 
Constitution are the organs of the Spiritualists, who reject 
all revelations, except such as they get from day to day 
from one spirit or another, and the organs par excellence of 
New England Puritans, whose fathers never omitted God 
from a public document. 

" Mr. Palfrey (a Unitarian) says, in his excellent history, 
' The Puritan was a Scripturist.' He ' searched the Bible 
not only for principles and rules, but for mandates — and 
when he could find none of these, for analogies, to guide him 
in precise arrangements of public administration.' — Pal. 
His. N. Eng., I. 274-5. 

" And we learn from the same author that the one grand 
object of the Puritans, as given by their own Winthrop, was : 

" * Through a more than ordinary approbation of the 
Churches of Christ, to seek out a place of co-habitation and 
consortship, under a due form of government, both civil and 
ecclesiastical.' {^Pal. I. 313.) And their first or May- 
flower Constitution, which Bancroft and others have made 
familiar, declares their grand generic purpose in that 
instrument and their action under it to be : ' The glory of 
God and the advancement of the Christian faith. ' 

" Now, there are two religious papers which profess to be the 
lineal descendants and present exponents of New England 
Puritanism, and another, the New York Independent, which 
once professed the same. Of these, the Chicago paper has 
advocated excluding the Bible from the schools, and the 
other two resist the attempt to recognize it in our Consti- 



90 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

tution. It is not for us to explain this phenomenon, but, if 
refutable, to refute their arguments. 

" The Boston Congregationallst observes : 

" ' If Christianity is not now in our Constitution and laws, 
it cannot be put in by any cunning phrases of amendment. 
The effort to insert distinctively Evangelical sentences into 
this instrument would stir up an intensity of religious ani- 
mosity. * * The effort is sure to fail, as it ought to fail. 
[f the thing could be done, there would not be an ounce 
weight more of Christianity in the nation. No Christianity 
in the Constitution because the words are not there } Is 
there any salt in the sea .? there are no lumps of salt 
visible ! Go to, now : let us form a national society to 
put salt into the Atlantic ocean.' 

" How weak are such utterances ! How changed in sen- 
timent and spirit from the Puritans whom they aspire to rep- 
resent ! ' No cunning phrases of amendment can put 
Christianity into our laws and Constitution.' True; and 
the like is true of every amendment that ever has been or 
may be adopted. But the discussion which precedes and 
enacts the amendment may^ by inserting its sentiment in the 
convictions of the people, and by appealing to a conscience 
in statesmen and politicians, make one. 

" But our attempt to insert a clause in our Constitution, 
defining by what God witnesses are sworn in our Federal 
Courts, will ' stir up religious animosity.' This objection 
concedes that there is no recognition of Christ in the Con- 
stitution, else, why the ' animosity,' if we put into it words, 
only what is now there in fact } 

" And do these professed ' Puritans ' wish us to live, like 
cringing savages, over a sleeping volcano of ' religious ani- 
mosity,' in the empty hope of permanent security by not 
stirring its fires 1 For one, I am willing that Elijah's issue 
between the true God and the false should be put to the 
American people. If we are to become a nation of atheists, 
let us know it and teach our children to submit to it with a 
grace ; or if Baal be God, let us serve him, and obey his 



91 

priests. There is no heaven for cowards, and no salvation 
for worldlings. The ' fearful ' are classed and cast out with 
the ' unbelieving and abominable ; ' and justly, for why 
should we wish to steal glimpses of Christianity through our 
national Constitution, without letting those who reject 
Christ know that we believe such glimpses are to be had 
there ? It is unfair to the atheists, who have their rights as 
men ! No. Truth cannot live by the sleep of error. 

" And then see how this writer turns on himself, and, 
after, by implication, conceding that the Constitution has no 
Christianity which atheists are bound to respect — begging 
us not to waste them by attempting to put ' Christianity into 
the Constitution' — warning us not to stir their ' animosity ' 
by asking its constitutional recognition — he, in the very 
next sentence, finds the Constitution as full of Christianity 
as sea-water is of salt ! and burlesques our movement by 
likening it to a national association to put salt into the sea ! 
Surely, if this writer's last idea is correct, if the Constitution 
is as full of Christianity as sea-water is of salt, not even atheists, 
if they be reasonable ones, can object to our making the 
Preamble conform to the Constitution by stating the fact. 
An honest atheist will consent to put Christ into the Pre- 
amble, if first he will consent to have Him in the Consti- 
tution. It is only apostate Puritans who wish to enjoy 
Christ and deny him, and live, like Peter, by a Savior 
whom they dare not own. 

" But objections to things inherently good, are apt to 
demolish each other. So Mr. Greeley's Tribune demolishes 
the above writer's sea-water assertion, that the Constitution 
is already saturated with Christianity, and so needs no 
amending. Mr. Greeley destroys this by declaring that : 

" ' The proposed recognition of God involves a more 
fundamental and sweeping change than was eff'ected by our 
fathers' separation from Great Britain : ' and by quoting our 
national Treaty with Tripoli, in 1796, which was interpreted 
and ratified by our highest national authority, which asserts 



92 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

that ' The Government of the United States is not in any sense 
founded on the Christian Religion' 

" This, too, is what this National Association asserts : 
" ' We hold that in an hour of national feebleness and 
gratitude, and patriotism, our fathers undertook two 
impossibilities, viz., to make a constitutional peace between 
slavery and liberty, and between French atheism and 
English Protestant Christianity. The failure of their first 
attempt is proclaimed by near a million graves for our dead, 
and by millions on millions of taxes on the living. May the 
most merciful God grant their second failure prove not 
worse for us than their first. There is no peace, can be none, 
between the truth and a lie ; and Christ was and is ' The 
truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.' Our 
national oath is His, and not the oath of the Chinaman, 
Mormon, or Mohammedan ; and if our Constitution means 
that our President shall swear by the God of the Bible, and 
not by a dead cock, or by a gree-gree or fetish, or Brama, or 
Confucius, or Allah, or his Prophet, or the God of the 
mysteries of Salt Lake, it ought to have the honesty to say 
so. It must say so or perish, like the phantom nations, in 
blood. Like Pilate, we have this Savior on our hands ; 
and we must soon decide Pilate's question concerning him : 
' What shall I do with Jesus which is called Christ } ' We 
shall own Him, or crucify Him and save Barabbas. 

" Nor have we an election, as Professor Taylor Lewis has 
shown ; this discussion has not been sprung by those who 
own fealty to Christ, but by those who are bringing us to 
swear fealty to priests, or to the no-god of the atheist, who 
lives at the half-way house to priestly despotism, and on the 
direct road. These two personages, Priest, Atheist and 
Company, (the ' company ' including all who go with them,) 
are employing the old game of the slave-holders, using our 
Constitution to tie our hands, while their hands are free to 
assail us. They intend to cast out Christ and the Bible 
from our Government and laws, to compel us to w^orship 



AN AMBASSADOR OF GOD. ■ 93 

their gods, at Rome, at Constantinople, in China, at Salt 
Lake, 

' At Greenland, Zembla, or the Lord knows where.' 

" Nor are we to be deterred by the hue and cry of 'Church 
and State,' which was raised against us as abolitionists, and 
has been raised against every good cause which has appealed 
to popular sentiment ever since we were a nation ; and 
raised, too, by the very men who, if we were going for 
Church and State, and would take them as leaders, would 
go with us ; the men who to-day vote to tax us to support 
Romish priests and their houses of women of which men hold 
the keys. 

" I say not that no good men fear Church and State. 
They do, and ought to dread it. When the Bible and 
Christians had illumed the old world by the martyr fires 
which burned them, when priests and despots who kindled 
them looked hateful and ghastly in the light, and the 
nations were bursting their bands, the despots dragooned 
and drove our fathers to this country, and changing their 
tactics from murder to seduction, they and their Protestant 
clacquers have held up to the gaze of the world the errors of 
our fathers, which priests had taught them, and which they 
had not time to unlearn, nay, which priests themselves now 
practice, whenever on earth they will not lose more than 
they will gain by it. They whose religion still burns 
heretics have filled earth with Salem witchcraft and 
Servetus. Be it so. Let us, along with our own, confess 
the sins of our fathers, as did Daniel, and profit by and 
shun their errors. 

" But owning Christianity is not necessarily ' Church and 
State.' Even though we put it in our national Constitution. 
' Church and State ' means coercion of conscience and com- 
pulsory religion, and Lord Mansfield, speaking for England, 
and our own learned Judges, for America, have fully de- 
clared that conscience is not amenable to human courts, and 
that coerced religion may make hypocrites and martyrs, but 
not Christians. We have learned something, and, if 



94 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

teachable, may yet learn more ; how conscience can be left 
free without dethroning Christ, or putting Christianity on a 
constitutional level with that of Asiatic Thugs or Mormon 
Danites, who are assassins upon conscience and by religious 
conviction. 

" You and I may err — may not precisely see where the 
line runs in practice, which separates Church from State. 
But we may surely trust this nation to discuss the question 
of a religious amendment ; aye, and to adopt the proposition 
that Christianity is true and Paganism is false, without fear 
lest our Sheriff shall enforce Christ's worship by the civil 
sword, or drag our American Pagans to his communion 
table by the throat. 

" After all, the question is, for us, one of fact. Does God 
in Christ rule the nations ? As the Bible, and, I had almost 
said, history declares he does. If so, will acknowledging 
this truth, nationally, hurt us ? If Illinois is under the 
Federal Government at Washington, is it wisdom or ruinous 
folly to blink or deny the fact ? So it may be our saving 
wisdom to own the spiritual providei7tial government of 
Christ, though unlike our Federal Government, His angel 
marshals carry no revolvers, and His prison is not like a 
jail in Washington City. 

" Nor can we long escape this question. We must soon 
say what we mean when we swear a civil officer or a witness 
in court, or dispense altogether with Christ, and His oath, 
and human conscience and retribution as means of ascer- 
taining truth and administering justice. Then will come, 
thick and fast, the self-inflicted terrors of our rejected God. 
Men will destroy each other like enraged insects ; every city 
become a Paris, and every country a France. Nor can the 
nations long escape their blessed and benign Ruler by 
hiding their constitutional eyes and stopping their national 
ears. For, * Behold He cometh with cloitds ; and every eye 
shall see him ; and they also which pierced Him ; and all kin- 
dreds of the earth shall wail because of Him. Even so : 
Amen ! ' " 



AN AMBASSADOR OF GOD, 95 

Old Style ! If you cannot convince by argument, you 
may frighten the timid and superstitious by a threat of 
" Divine wrath ! " 

Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe relates that in the unpopular 
days of abolitionism, a meeting of anti-slavery people was 
interrupted by a violent hail storm, the roar of the elements 
drowning, for a time, the voices of the speakers. During a 
lull and an awe-like stillness, a frightened Methodist minister 
arose, and, with quivering lip, remarked he felt that God, in 
His wrath, was about to smite him for being present in 
such a meeting! At this juncture an old negress pointed 
her long, bony arm and jfinger toward him, and sought to 
soothe him : " Don't be skeered, chile ! keep quiet ; for I 
'spect as how God has not so much as hearn tell on ye ! " 
The shouts of laughter which greeted this quaint speech 
submerged the sanctity of the priest. 

" In the dark hour of the American Revolution," says Mr. 
Blanchard, "the Devil turned Democrat." He, doubtless, 
had become disgusted with clerical rule and its attendant 
train of corruption. 

The President muddles history when he affirms that 
France helped us establish Protestantism and constitutional 
liberty ; and yet, strangely enough, when liberty was estab- 
lished, Protestantism was left out I which is the very thing- 
complained of, and which omission President Blanchard 
charges to the devil ! Mr. Blanchard deprecates the idea 
that our government derives its just powers from the gov- 
erned, and thinks it an infidel, anti-God principle. 

His effort to class atheists and priests together is too 
weak to require more than a passing comment. The inter- 
est of the priesthood is unmistakably against atheism. To 
blot out God is to extinguish the priesthood 

Church and State, he says, " means coercion of conscience 
and compulsory religion." He disavows, on the part of the 
religious " reformers," any intention to coerce conscience or 
to compel religious worship. But the amendments they seek 
would empower them to " coerce." Protestants have ever 



9^ THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

used the power which they possessed. They will always 
exercise the power granted them, " whenever " (to quote 
Mr. Blanchard's own words against the Catholics) " they 
will not lose more than they will gain by it." Every word 
which a Protestant employs against Catholic persecution, 
applies with equally fearful force against Protestant cruelty. 
History proves it. Mr. Blanchard had not the temerity to 
deny it — notwithstanding the braggadocio spirit which per- 
meates his address. Yea, he felt himself forced to 
acknowledge it, and said "be it so," and forthwith proposes 
to confess, not only their own sins, as Protestants, in causing 
the bloody reign which history charges against them, but the 
sins of their fathers. But he impliedly asserts that the sons 
are so much better, more tender and merciful, than the 
fathers, that the former can be trusted with the ecclesiastical 
power which the latter abused. And, in the penitential 
mood, hopes to " profit by and shun their errors." How 
humble ! 'Tis not their nature, but this infidel government, 
with its " godless Constitution," that makes them so. It is 
best to keep them humble. Humility becomes them — bet- 
ter fits them for heaven. Makes them more agreeable to 
live with on earth — no slight consideration ! When the 
President says, deprecatingly, while begging for the clerical 
power which a religious amendment of the Constitution 
would give Christians, that " 2<:'^ (Protestants) have learned 
somethings and, if teachable, may yet learn mores'" we are 
glad to know it. Their teachability and humility — acquired 
under the liberal rule in this country, which protects all 
religions alike, furnish the best reasons that could be 
assigned for continuing our present infidel form of govern- 
ment, and refusing to recognize any God as the true one. 
No, no. President Blanchard, the power you ask for is 
fraught with danger to the dearly bought liberties of Ameri- 
can citizens. Those Church-and-State cat's-paws, perchance, 
have no claws in sight, but they are there ! Let us see if 
this is not so : City governments have sometimes favored 
your Pharisaical regard for a " holy day." The workingmen 



AN AMBASSADOR OF GOD. 97 

of New York City were desirous to parade on Sunday. 
This was deemed by the pious ones a desecration of the 
" Lord's Day," notwithstanding numerous reHgious societies 
had paraded on Sundays. The city officials had their 
orders. The newspapers contained the following : 

" THE INTERNATIONALS NOT TO BE PERMITTED TO PARADE 
ON SUNDAY. 

" At a meeting of the Board of Police to-day the fol- 
lowing resolution was adopted : 

" Resolved^ That the Superintendent be directed to notify 
the officers of the International Societies of this city that 
the proposed parade of societies on Sunday next will not be 
permitted on that day. The parade or demonstration, if 
made, must be on some other day of the week than Sunday. 
Further, the Superintendent is directed to take the neces- 
sary measures to prevent the parade on Sunday, in case the 
societies persist in parading on that day." 

The workingmen finally did parade on a Sunday. Had 
the Christian religion been the religion of the State, those 
sons of toil would have been prevented, at the point of the 
bayonet, from thus " desecrating " Sunday, and compelled 
to lose a day's labor if they paraded at all. 

" Holy men " only would be elected to office. The 
General Secretary of the National Association to recognize 
God, Rev. D. McAllister, delivered a speech on Sunday 
evening, Oct. 29, 187 1, in New York, in which he said : 

" Instead of electing Christian men for office, we find that 
the electors choose the worst class to the highest office in 
the land. The pagan and the infidel are just as eligible to 
office as the most sincere Christian. Let us say that we 
will have none but God-fearing men to rule over us, and 
pass laws to that effect." " An infidel is declared by State 
and Federal enactments to be qualified for the highest 
office in the land. In conclusion, the speaker urged that the 
movement to secure the recognition of God in the Consti- 
tution be agitated until it was incorporated therein. Then 
we would be able to prevent the election to office of men 
who were notoriously corrupt." — New York Tunes. 

A Reverend gentleman, by the name of Smart, made a 

7 



98 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

furious attack upon a secular paper called the Observery 
published in Romeo, Mich., by two liberal-minded gentle- 
men, Hanscom & Ewell, because it treated the clergy (so 
the Rev. thought) disrespectfully, and dared to publish favor- 
able notices of Spiritualists and other liberal people. One 
disrespectful (.^) item was : 

" It is questionable piety that induces some preachers to 
go and pray with the female portion of a family when they 
know that the men are necessarily absent at their places of 
business." 

A paper that would have the audacity to publish even 
those few lines of truth about clergymen must be squelched. 
The Detroit papers contained the following : 

" Resolved, That we have listened with pleasure to the 
Rev. J. S. Smart's sermon, reviewing ' our local press,' and 
exposing spiritualism, and desire to express our hearty 
approval of it as a bold, fearless, and timely enunciation of 
important truth, for which we hereby tender him our sincere 
thanks. 

" Resolved, That a paper conducted in the interests of 
spiritual infidelity, making frequent attacks upon the Bible, 
the clergy, and the Christian religion, ought not to be sus- 
tained by a Christian people. 

" Resolved, That we demand, as a condition of our future 
patronage, that the Observer change its course in this 
respect." 

Is not that a fine example of the clerical estimate of 
freedom of the press .? This " meek follower of Jesus " 
boasted that he has had sixteen different battles with the 
press, and always came off victorious ( ! ). The clergy are 
so mild, so gentle, they would not " coerce " anybody if they 
had the power ! They would not rule the people with a 
rod of iron ! They would not muzzle the press in the 
interests of God, and Christ, and their own glory — not they I 
They never did any such thing ! 

Such godly men as President Blanchard, and Reverend 
Smart, and Prof. Mcllvaine are a fair type of the American 
clergy. They would gladly subvert American institutions if 



AN AMBASSADOR OF GOD. 99 

they could be assured that such an act would secure their 
own spiritual and temporal supremacy. There are indi- 
vidual exceptions, it is true ; there are some among the 
preachers who are noble, liberal-minded gentlemen — no 
thanks to their theology. As a class, or profession, they are 
arrogant, self-righteous, and extremely superstitious, never 
failing to make the most of calamities and pestilences, to fan 
into a flame the dying embers of a once powerful faith of 
the people in special providence. No opportunities are 
neglected to excite in the minds of their hearers a reveren- 
tial regard for themselves as a superior order of men, called 
by Heaven to a holy mission, ambassadors of God. These 
Protestant priests are not Catholics. They are anxious the 
public should understand they have no sympathy with 
them ; but they fail to show wherein they love liberty more 
than their Catholic Christian neighbors. Day and night 
they plot and strive against Catholic Christian rights and 
the rights of Infidels. Busy are they in the inauguration of 
a stupendous religious conflict in this nation. Refuse to 
recognize God in the Constitution. What then "^ Says Mr. 
Blanchard : " Men will destroy each other like enraged 
insects ; every city become a Paris, and every country a 
France," 

That would' be a terrible state of things, but preferable to 
the horrible rule of " God's ^Embassadors." 

Says Mr. Blanchard: " If the arm of the State is to hold 
the Bible in our schools, it must have the constitutional 
right to do so, which it certainly has not." 

There is trouble coming to this nation through this very 
question of Bible-reading to children. It is one branch of 
the God-in-the-Constitution movement. X chapter, at 
least, will be needed to present the salient points. Suffice it 
to say, now, that when Mr. Blanchard tries to fasten the guilt 
of bloody religious persecution upon the Catholics, and to 
exonerate Protestants, by the weak and transparent subter- 
fuge that " The Bible has not burnt heretics," it is a sword 
with two edges. The Catholic could as easily prove that 

LofC. 



lOO THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

the Mother Church, or even the Order of Jesuits, had not 
burnt heretics. If the Bible and the Church have not 
burnt heretics, Bible-beHevers and churchmen have. 

Mr. Blanchard, after denying they meant to have a union 
of Church and State, admits that he and his Christian 
brethren may er-r as to " where the line runs in p7'actice 
which separates Church from State." A serious matter to 
the liberalist, in practice ! Gentlemen, we know you. Not- 
withstanding this liability of Christians to err in determining 
what belongs to the Church and what to the State, President 
Blanchard, with wonderful coolness, thinTcs we may trust the 
nation to " adopt the proposition that Christianity is true 
and paganism is false, without fear lest our sheriff shall en- 
force Chrisfs worship by the civil sword^ or drag our American 
Pagans to his co7nmunion table by the throat.'" 

" Not if the Court knows herself! " It is not a great while 
since a brave, upright man, by the name of Kneeland, was 
dragged before a Christian Justice to answer for an honest 
expression of opinion about God. A little more than a 
hundred years before (in 1723), a charge w^as made by the 
General Court of Boston against the paper of James Frank- 
lin, because it had " a tendency to mock religion and to 
bring it into contempt : " that the " Holy Scriptures are 
therein profanely abused ; the reverend and faithful Minis- 
ters of the Gospel [Oh!] injuriously reflected on," etc. 
The articles (which the historian declares were considered 
offensive on account of " gently satirizing religious hypoc- 
risy "), were condemned. They were written by that then 
rising young man, Benjamin Franklin. 

From the time of the landing of the Puritans in America, 
and for generations thereafter, until the introduction of infi- 
delity " from France," by the devil^ history proves that 
" Christ's worship " was enforced. 

Though there is much that is weak and unsound in Presi- 
dent Blanchard's address, yet it cannot be denied that such 
an appeal will produce a strong impression on the minds of 
Christian people. In it there is considerable correct 



AN AMBASSADOR OF GOD. lOI 

reasoning from premises which Christians are disposed to 
take for granted, and to them the conclusions will seem 
just. 

Here is a blunder into which the learned President has 
fallen — a very common blunder — to-wit : that " Christianity is 
apart of the law of the land." If that were true it would be no 
reason why our law-makers, and the people generally, should 
embrace the Christian religion any more than because our 
ancestors were " ape-like men" (see Darwin), w^e should em- 
brace baboons ! If it should be proved that Paganism is a 
part of the " common law " ought we all turn Pagans .'' 
Now, it can be easily shown that the " common law " is 
older than Christianity. There are some sayings in the 
English old law books that Christianity is part of the com- 
mon law. It is true that the great Sir Matthew Hale enter- 
tained this idea. Blackstone taught it. Daniel Webster 
affirmed it. But the illustrious Thomas Jefferson, in a very 
masterly manner, brought to light the fraud upon which the 
assumption is based. In his letter to Major Cartwright, the 
Whig patriarch of England, he exposed the fallacy of any 
such claim, and defied all the lawyers of England to contra- 
dict him. Not one dared to enter the lists against that 
noble champion of civil and religious liberty. All the cases 
in the books were examined by the close, critical, lawyer-like 
mind of Jefferson. 

Common law was based upon "ancient writings," "old 
records." The mistranslation of the words '''' ancieii Scrip- 
ture," which arose from fraud or blunder, is the flimsy 
foundation, completely demolished by Jefferson, which sus- 
tained this piece of pious imposition ; it was the hook upon 
which were hung the decisions of English Judges, that 
Christianity is part and parcel of the law of the land. 

I am thus precise about this matter because the imposture 
was the ground upon which the English courts armed them- 
selves w^ith power to sustain Church and State, crush out 
the liberties of the people, and strangle freedom of the press 
and speech. The time may come when, in spite of our 



102 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

sense of safety from the fires of persecution, we shall need 
every fact to overthrow the last vestige of ecclesiastical 
power, which, as can be seen, is incompatible with American 
institutions. To accomplish more fully this purpose, I sub- 
mit the letter written by Mr. Jefferson to Major Cartwright : 

" I was glad to find in your book a formal contradiction, 
at length, of the judiciary usurpation of legislative powers ; 
for such the judges have usurped in their repeated decisions, 
that Christianity is a part of the common law. The proof 
of the contrary, which you have adduced, is incontro- 
vertible ; to-wit : that the common law existed while the 
Anglo-Saxons were yet Pagans, at a time when they had 
never yet heard the name of Christ pronounced, or knew 
that such a character had ever existed. But it may amuse 
you to show when, and by what means, they stole this law in 
upon us. In a case of quare impedit in the Year book. 34. 
H. 6. folio 38. (anno 1458) a question was made, how far the 
ecclesiastical law was to be respected in a common law 
court. And Prisot, Chief Justice, gives his opinion in these 
words : ' A tiel leis qu'ils de seint eglise ont en ancien 
scripture^ convient a nous a donner credence ; car ceo com- 
mom ley sur quels touts manners leis sont fondes. Et auxy. 
Sir, nous sumus obliges de conustre lour ley de saint eglise ; 
et semblablement ils sont obliges de conustre nostre ley. 
Et, Sir, si poit apperer or a nous que I'evesque ad fait come 
un ordinary fera en tiel cas, adong nous devons ceo adjuger 
bon, ou auterment nemy,' &c. See S. C. Fitzh. abr. Qu, 
imp. 89. Bro. Abr. Qu, imp. 12. Finch in his first book, 
c. 3. is the first afterward who quotes this case, and mis- 
takes it thus : ' To such laws of the church as have warrant 
in holy scriptiwe^ our law giveth credence.' And cites Prisot, 
mistranslating ' ancien scripture ' into ' /w/y scripture. ' 
AVhereas Prisot palpably says, ' to such laws as those of 
holy church have in ancient writing., it is proper for us to 
give credence ; ' to-wit, to their ancient written laws. This 
was in 16 13, a century and a half after the dictum of Prisot. 
Wingate, in 1658, erects this false translation into a maxim 
of the common law, copying the words of Finch, but citing 
Prisot. Wing. Max. 3. and Sheppard, title, ' Religion,' in 
1675, copies the same mistranslation, quoting the Y. B. 
Finch and Wingate. Hale expresses it in these words : 
* Christianity is parcel of the laws of England.' i Ventr. 
293, 3 Keb. 607. But he quotes no authority. By these 



AN AMBASSADOR OF GOD. I03 

echoings and re-echoings from one to another, it had 
become so established in 1728, that in the case of the King 
z's. Woolston, 2 Stra. 834, the court would not suffer it to be 
debated, whether to write against Christianity was punish- 
able in the temporal court at common law. Wood, there- 
fore, 409, ventures still to vary the phrase and say, that all 
blasphemy and profaneness are offences by the common law ; 
and cites 2 Stra. Then Blackstone, in 1763, IV. 59, repeats 
the words of Hale, that ' Christianity is part of the laws of 
England,' citing Ventris and Strange. And, finally, Lord 
Mansfield, with a little qualification, in Evan's case, in 1767, 
says that, 'the essential principles of revealed religion are 
part of the common law.' Thus ingulphing Bible, Testa- 
ment, and all into the common law, without citing any 
authority. And thus we find this chain of authorities 
hanging link by link, one upon another, all ultimately on one 
and the same hook, and that a mistranslation of the words 
* .incie/t scripture^' used by Prisot. Finch quotes Prisot ; Win- 
gate does the same. Sheppard quotes Prisot, Finch, and 
Wingate. Hale cites nobody. The court, in Woolston's 
case, cite Hale. Wood cites V/oolston's case. Blackstone 
quotes Woolston's case and Hale. And Lord Mansfield, like 
Hale, ventures it on his own authority. Here I might defy 
the best read lawyer to produce another scrap of authority 
for this judiciary forgery, and I might go on further to show 
how some of the Anglo-Saxon priests interpolated into the 
text of Alfred's laws the 20th, 21st, 22nd, and 23rd chapters 
of Exodus, and the 15th of the Acts of the Apostles, from 
the 23rd to the 29th verses. But this would lead my pen 
and your j^atience too far. What a conspiracy this, between 
Church and State ! Sing Tantarara, rogues all, rogues all. 
Sing Tantarara, rogues all ' " 



VI. 



OUR COUNTRY, OR RELIGION I WHICH ? 



' Still shall we nourish the light 
Our fathers lit for the chained nations 
That darkled in Tyranny's night ! " 

— Willi a7n Ross Wallace. 



" To the voting citizens of the United States, and to all 
thoughtful persons who love their country." 

Such is the " taking " title of an eight-paged tract, which 
has been extensively circulated. I will submit those portions 
of it with which the reader is not already familiar, and I 
think the verdict of every unprejudiced mind will be that 
the title should have read as follows : To the voting citizens 
of the United States who love their reiigion juore than their 
country. 

This tract, which was sent out from " head-quarters " — 
Philadelphia — invites the reader to consider, in making up 
his judgment "upon these proposed amendments," 

" That the Constitution of the United States is our char- 
ter as a nation. It contains all the forms under which our 
national life shall appear, all the powers which our national 
government may ever exercise. If this Constitution be 
sound, we may expect our national life to be healthful and 
vigorous. If anything goes wrong with the nation, it may 
fairly be asked whether something be not wrong in the Con- 
stitution. 

" Consider 

"That the Constitution is as the people make it. Its 
wisdom is their wisdom Its goodness is their goodness. 
It is their creature and mouthpiece and image. Whatever 
describes it describes the people that made it and live under 



OUR COUNTRY OR RELIGION: WHICH? I05 

it contentedly. They are responsible for all its contents and 
all its character." — Christian Tract. 

Is it not galling to Christians that they are blessed by an 
Infidel form of government 1 When religion controlled the 
State, Christians roasted each others' bodies, and each 
damned his neighbor's soul. Infidelity, "cruel as the grave" 
(?) is powerful enough now to compel Christians to abstain 
from their old pastime of butchering each other for the 
benefit of religion. 

" Consider 

" That Civil Society and Government is not man's inven- 
tion any more than the Family is. Both are natural, both are 
necessary, and both are the appointments of Him who made 
man. The state is God's ordinance.* The people may 
choose what sort of a state they will have. And it is in this 
sense and to this extent true that, as our Declaration of In- 
dependence has it, 'Governments derive their just powers 
from the consent of the governed.' But some sort of a state, 
some sort of a general agency to make, to apply, and enforce 
laws of order, right, and peace, men must have. A nation 
is a kind of public person, which God has created as really 
as He has created private persons ; and government has God 
appointed to be that public agency for the honor and welfare 
of the nation. So the Bible teaches us, ' There is no power 
(government) but of God. The powers that be are ordained 
of God.' It is the will of God, no less than the interest of 
man, that government be honored and obeyed. 'Whoso 
resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God, and they 
that resist shall receive to themselves damnation ' — that is, 
condemnation and punishment. God will see to it that bad 
citizenship, that treason and rebellion shall be requited as 
they deserve. 

" But if Civil Government be God's ordinance and crea- 
ture, should not Government acknowledge God '^' If God 
upholds Government, should not Government confess its de- 

" * This is the reaion that patriotism and all good citizenship is a part 
of religion. It is a duty to God as well as to ourselves, our neighbors 
and our children. And this is the reason why war maybe lawfully under- 
taken on behalf of one's country. Such a war is as righteous as it is 
necessary. See Nehemiah 4 : 14. ' Remember the Lord which is great 
■and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, 
your wives, and your houses.' " — Note to Christian Tract, 



lo6 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

pendence upon God ? Both these things are plainly just 
and right. Both should be done by every state and nation. 
The government that neglects or refuses to do these things 
does God a great wrong and dishonor, and shows itself to be 
ungrateful, rebellious and proud. 

" Now the place where our nation should make these ac- 
knowledgments, and the only place where we can adequately 
do it, is in the Preamble and the body of the Constitution. 

" And since the Constitution is as the people make it, since 
the people are represented in the Constitution and are re- 
sponsible for it, if the people refuse these amendments they 
incur great public guilt." — Christian Tract. 

Observe the Jesuitical cunning of the authors of the tract. 
They discovered that their opposition to the democratic sen- 
timent, " governments derive their just powers from the con- 
sent of the governed," was very unpopular; so they endeavor 
to conceal their design by admitting that " the people may 
choose what sort of a state they will have." "In this sense 
and to this extent," they admit the Declaration of Independ- 
ence is correct in asserting the inalienable right of men to 
govern themselves. After thus disposing, as they think, of 
the prejudice against their warfare upon our declaration of 
independence, meanwhile having kept their gaze fixed upon 
the real object in an opposite direction, they deliberately set 
about insisting that " government should confess its depend- 
ence upon God." They make God stand in place of " gov- 
ernment," and the Bible in place of God. When, therefore, 
they say ''government " should "be honored and obeyed," 
they mean that God should be honored and obeyed, for gov- 
ernment is merely God's agency. Lastly, the Bible is, after 
all, what must be acknowledged as superior to the nation, to 
the Declaration of Independence, to the Constitution itself, 
and bowed down before, and worshiped, as God visible. By 
the time we have reached this inevitable conclusion from 
their premises, what has become of the " consent of the 
people ".? 

See, m their note, the Christian justification for war ! 
War IS a part of their religion. So they clami. When they 
overturn that " infidel " sentiment, the " consent of the gov- 



OUR COUNTRY OR RELIGION I WHICH ^ I07 

erned " — the true basis of government — and have erected 
their religion, their Bible, and their God in its place, then 
they will assert at the cannon's mouth what they now print 
in tracts : " War may be lawfully undertaken on behalf of 
one's country." " One's country " with them will mean ones 
religion^ which will have swallowed the country ! The war- 
cry may yet ring throughout this land, " Remember the Lord 
which is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your 
sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses." 
—Bible. 

"Hip! hip! hurra!! down with the Infidels ! the Spirit- 
ualists ! the Sabbath-breakers ! Only ' Godly men ' shall 
rule ! " 

See that long line of pious crusaders against Free Thought 
and Free Thinkers, wending their w^ay home from their 
horrid butcheries ! As they draw near, we read on silken 
banners such holy mottoes as these : " Such a war is as 
righteous as it is necessary." " The Lord is great and terri- 
ble ! " — Bible. " The Lord your God which goeth before 
you, he shall fight for you ! " — Bible. " The Lord thy God 
is among you, a mighty God and terrible ! " — Bible. " Have 
I not commanded .? — be not afraid, neither * * ^ dis- 
mayed ! " — Bible. " The battle is the Lord's ! " — Bible. 
"Who is a strong Lord like unto thee!" — Bible. "The 
Lord is a man of war ! " — Bible. " Then shall the Lord go 
forth and fight ! " — Bible. " I myself w^ill fight against you 
in anger, and in fury, and in great wrath ! " — Bible. 

Bible maxims ! On each banner a blood-red cross f 
Adopt the Bible as the supreme law of the land and there 
would be an abundance of appropriate mottoes for banners. 
They would be culled from its blessed pages. They w^ould 
have the advantage of being — unlike ordinary mottoes in use 
during a presidential campaign — the expression of the high- 
est law (!) and possessing the binding force of positive com- 
mands ! Of course, the wicked stars and stripes would be 
blotted out ! They would be deemed too secular ! 

We will now receive another dose of tract : 



ro8 the clergy a source of danger. 

" Consider 

" That at the beginning of our national history God was 
formally acknowledged. The charter of all the colonies 
aclcnowledged Him. The Articles of the old Confederation 
acknowledged Him. All the earliest Constitutions of the 
States acknowledged Him. But when the present Constitu- 
tion of the United States came to be formed the acknowl- 
edgment was omitted. The wretched infidelity of France 
was then abroad on all the air of the world ; everything was 
more or less infected with it; and our statesmen mistook its 
teachings for the voice of true philosophy and real progress. 
In their reaction against state churches, state creeds, and 
priestcraft, they went to the dangerous extreme of ignoring 
God." 

Yes, and they might have said that the "late" Southern 
Confederacy acknowledged him ; but it was whipped, not- 
withstanding. 

That " our statesmen mistook " the fundamental principles 
of our nation for the " voice of true philosophy and real 
progress " is not borne out by the facts. They made no 
mistake about them. The "philosophy" they adopted was 
the " Rights of Man " ; " Greatest good to the greatest num- 
ber " ; " Freedom and Equality." Such was their political 
philosophy. To these principles might be added many 
more, not the least important of which is, " Congress shall 
make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or pro- 
hibiting the free exercise thereof." If, as they say, those 
principles are the result of the " wretched infidelity then 
abroad on all the air of the world," glory be to "wretched 
infidelity." It is dearer to the loyal American heart than all 
the religions ever manufactured. 

The result of the mad career of the religionists to Christi- 
anize our Constitution will be to make religion a still greater 
stench in the nostrils of the thinking classes than it ever has 
been. It will be discovered that the human race can do 
better without religion than with it. Religion has cursed 
the world. This religionists themselves acknowledge. A 
thousand religions : nine hundred and ninety-nine of them 
false, by the verdict of each denomination. It is claimed 



OUR COUNTRY OR RELIGION : WHICH ? IO9 

by all God-worshipers that a false religion is worse than no 
religion. If there is a true one it exerts but a confessedly 
feeble influence. Religion in general has rendered human 
nature worse, by everywhere exciting enmity between the 
members of the human family. It has always been an un- 
compromising foe to mental freedom. Its blood-stained 
history shows it to be an infuriated beast. Experience has 
proved it to be safe only when chained. The founders of 
our Republic chained it. 

All that is required to render the race happy are a few 
self-evident moral and intellectual truths, denuded of all 
idea of a Supreme Ruler of the Universe. Our present 
United States Constitution contains the elements adequate 
to a higher state of civilization than can be evolved by the 
most perfect religion extant. It ignores the existence of a 
God, and only alludes to Religion to pluck out its teeth and 
its claws. 

" We do not hate our enemy — 
****** 

We love our land ; we fight her foe ; 
We hate his cause, and that must fall. 

" Our country is a goodly land ; 

We'll keep her always whole and hale, 
We'll love her, live for her or die ; 
To fall for her is not to fail. 

" Our Flag ! The Red shall mean the blood 
We gladly pledge ; and let the White 
Mean purity and solemn truth, 
Unsullied justice, sacred right. 

" Its Blue, the sea we love to plow, 
That laves the heaven-united land. 
Between the Old and Older World, 

From sti'and, o'er mount and stream, to strand. 

" The Blue reflects the crowding stars. 
Bright Union-emblem of the free ; 
Come, all of ye, and let it wave — 
That floating piece of poetry." 



no THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

That our Fathers made no mistake about the voice of 
"real progress " is evidenced from the fact that no nation has 
made more substantial progress than this. Its prosperity is 
the most wonderful ever known. History furnishes no par- 
allel. And this nation is the only one built without recog- 
nizing God ! If there is a personal God in this Universe 
who is the author of individual and national prosperity, in- 
stead of the people being the authors of their own prosperity 
or misfortune, then what must the believer in a special prov- 
idence think of this fact : our national prosperity for up- 
wards of eighty years ? To escape the force of this fact, 
which tells with such crushing force against them, they say 
God does not punish nations immediately^ but allows the dis- 
obedient to rise to the very summit of power, like ancient 
Rome, that its fall may be greater ! AVhy should their God 
offer a premium on disobedience ? They have not informed 
us. It is not proved that the rise and fall of nations is the 
result of supernatural causes. 

" The amendment which is now proposed is no new thing. 
If it should be made, it will only be the adopting again of 
what was one of our earliest and most becoming national 
characteristics. " — Christian Tract. 

Just so. It is no new thing. But the old kingdoms built 
on the " divine right " of kings, and fully recognizing God, 
are rapidly going out of fashion. So a recognition of God 
does not prevent the decay of nations. 

More tract : 

" Consider 

" That God is not once named in our National Constitu- 
tion. There is nothing in it which requires an ' oath of God' 
as the Bible styles it (which, after all, is the great bond both 
of loyalty in the citizen and of fidelity in the magistrate) ; 
nothing which requires the observance of the day of rest 
and of worship, or which respects its sanctity. If we do not 
have the mails carried and the post-offices open on Sun- 
day, it is because we happen to have a Post-master General 
who respects the day. If our Supreme Courts are not held, 
and if Congress does not sit on that day, it is custom and 



OUR COUNTRY OR RELIGION: WHICH? Ill 

not law that makes it so. Nothing in the Constitution gives 
Sunday quiet to the Custom House, the Navy Yard, the 
Barracks, or any of the departments of Government. The 
only allusion which it makes to Sunday is a single provision 
leaving it out of the count of the ten days which the Presi- 
dent may have for the consideration of a Bill ; but that is 
not because the day is sacred, but because the President may 
happen to be a Christian, and may wish to keep the Sabbath. 
So also the prayers in our Houses of Congress and the ap- 
pointment of days for national humiliation or thanksgiving 
are merely religious customs, warranted by the religious sen- 
timents of the people, but not by the letter of the Constitu- 
tion. How soon and how sadly might all this be changed 
were an infidel administration to ride into power." — Christian 
Tract, 

"Swear not at all," is a contradictory command from the 
same book ! 

The ablest presidents we have had were Infidels. 

Mails should be carried on Sunday as on other days. 
Why should a government official use one-seventh of the 
people's time to propagate his religious fancies } If such a 
principle were correct would not a Jew, elected to fill the 
position of Post-master General have a right to have the 
mails stopped and the post-offices closed on Saturday? 
Because then we would " happen to have a Post-master Gen- 
eral who respects the day." No department of government 
should have its affairs diverted from their legitimate purpose 
in order to favor the religion of Jew, Christian or Pagan. 
Sunday laws ought to be abolished ; prayers in the Congress 
and in Legislatures ; the farce of appointment by govern- 
mental executive of days for humiliation, and thanksgiving, 
ought to be sternly frowned down by the American people. 

" Consider 

" That the Amendments proposed are true, right, and 
proper in themselves considered. 

"Almighty God is the source of all authority and power 
in civil government — is He not ? If not. Who is ? 

" The Lord Jesus Christ (aside from all questions as to his 
divinity, his humanity, or his mission on earth) is the Ruler 
among the nations — is He not? If not, Who is? 



112 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

'■ The revealed will of God is of supreme authority — is it 
it not? If not, What is of higher authority? 

"The government of the United States, a Christian peo- 
ple,* should be a Christian government — should it not ? 

" The blessings of such a government should be secured 
to all the inhabitants of the land, black as well as white — 
should they not ? 

"Think calmly, wisely, justly, and your answer to each of 
these questions can only be Aye." — Christian Tract. 

My answer is "Nay." There is danger that the mass of 
Christians will answer " Aye." The clergy have a dangerous 
influence over them. What consummate art is exhibited in 
the framing of these questions. Not one of them that any 
Christian can object to without denying his own religion. 
Reader, are you a Liberalist ? Then sound the alarm ! Our 
free institutions are endangered by Christians. The issue is 
" Our Country, or Religion ! " It is the " people " against 
the Christian God ! In a voice of thunder-tone the Liberal- 
ists should re-affirm that the " people " — not God — are the 
source of authority and power in civil government. 

The nations have no personal ruler. If Jesus Christ is 
ruler of nations, let him prove his title, or have his ambassa- 
dors — the clergy — prove it for him ! We are not required to 
prove a negative. 

The highest convictions of each human soul are its su- 
preme authority, higher than any book. 

We are not a Christian people. There are millions of cit- 
izens who are anti-Christian. If there were thirty-nine mil- 
lions Christians and only one million Liberalists, the thirty- 
nine millions would have no right to wrest from the minority 
the rights and privileges which are inalienable. 

More tract : 

" * A Christian people. They show it by their general demand and 
respect for the institutions of Christianity. They have of their own means 
provided a church and a minister of religion for every 1,000 of the popu- 
lation on an average. Consult the returns of the last census." — Note to 
Christian Tract, 



OUR COUNTRY OR RELIGION I WHICH? II3 

" Consider 

" That they [Christians] fairly express the mind of the 
great body of the American people. This is a Christian 
people. These Amendments agree with the faith, the feel- 
ings and the forms of every Christian church or sect. The 
Catholic and the Protestant, the Unitarian and the Trinita- 
rian profess and approve all that is here proposed. Why 
should not the Constitution be made to suit and to represent 
a constituency so overwhelmingly in the majority ? And 
let two things more be taken into account, ist. That no 
manner of injustice is done to the small minority whose 
views are opposed to these Amendments. No religious test 
is to be set up. No establishment of any church is to be 
attempted. No lessening of the privileges or the immunities 
of American citizenship is contemplated. And 2d. This 
great majority is becoming daily more conscious not only of 
their rights but of their power. Their number grows, and 
their column becomes more solid. They have quietly, 
steadily opposed infidelity until it has at least become politi- 
cally unpopular. They have asserted the rights of man and 
the rights of the Government until the nation's faith has be- 
come measurably fixed and declared on these points. And 
now that the close of the war gives us occasion to amend 
our Constitution that it may clearly and fully represent the 
mind of the people on these points, they feel that it should 
also be so amended as to recognize t/ie rights of God in ?nan 
and ill govenuiieni. Is it anything but due to their long pa- 
tience that they be at length allowed to speak out the great 
facts and piHnciples which give to all government its dignity^ 
stability^ and beneficence ? And is it anything but the merest 
propriety, the simplest and cheapest gratitude, to acknowl- 
edge that great God who has brought us so wondrously 
through the war } He is the author of our generalship, our 
statesmanship, and all that pure and holy purpose that 
marked 'the uprising of a great people.' Our soldiers con- 
fessed His presence on the battle-field. Our Senate bowed 
before His inscrutable wisdom and His gracious sovereignty. 
Our President and all our people in their distress called for 
His aid, and in their thanksgivings declared ' He hath not 
dealt so with any nation.' Let the Constitution say forever 
what with equal earnestness, truth, and sincerity we have all 
been saying during the war. 

" Much more might be said, but these considerations may 
suffice to show that the amendments to our national Consti- 
tution proposed * * * * -^ are right, are timely and 



114 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

becoming. An association has been formed for the purpose 
of bringing them before the people and in due time securing 
their adoption. Men of high standing, in every walk of 
life, of every section of the country, and of every shade of 
political sentiment and religious belief, have concurred in 
the measure." — Christian Tract. 

It can be clearly seen by even a casual reader that, with 
such an appeal, hundreds of thousands will flock to their 
standard. " These amendments agree with the faith, the 
feelings and the forms of every Christian church or sect." 
That is true ; and the authors of the tract further state what 
is equally true : " The Catholic and the Protestant, the 
Unitarian and the Trinitarian profess and approve all that is 
here proposed." Certainly they do. Some may have thought 
there was no ground for alarm of Church-and-State union, 
because the Protestant sects could not cease their sectarian 
contentions sufficiently long to even insure Church union. 
But those who have been observant of sectarian peculiari- 
ties are aware that churches do unite on common ground. 
They are a unit in their opposition to Infidelity ; in favor of 
the Bible in schools ; the enforcement of Sunday laws, etc. 
Let an Infidel and a Clergyman hold a joint public debate 
on the Bible ; and in any little town where there are even 
five or six clergymen (and it is a very small or very liberal 
place where that many cannot be found.) These clergymen 
may have been arrayed against each other in bitter strife, 
but lo! they become suddenly "of one heart and one soul." 

The authors of the tract assure us that " no manner of in- 
justice " is intended against those whose views are opposed 
to the amendments ! They do not deny that they would 
have the power to do injustice. Their history, as Christians, 
shows that they never used the power, when they had it, to 
punish Infidelity. Oh, no ! " No religious test is to be set 
up," I suppose there is not a large-sized kitten under that 
meal ! 

The Constitutional-God Christians inform us, next, that 
they have become not only " more conscious of their rights, 



OUR COUNTRY OR RELIGION: WHICH? II5 

but of their power " / " Their number grows, and their col- 
umn becomes more solid." 

All of which I know to be true. Since 1863, especially, 
they have been growing in numbers and in influence, and 
are already bringing to bear that immense influence upon 
the politics of the country. 

The tract closes with a strong appeal to co-operate. 

" Will you co-operate "> 

" Observe, you are not committed to any precise words of 
amendment by subscribing this Memorial. You only ask 
that IN SUBSTANCE the Constitution be so amended. The 
words may be left to the wisdom of a committee of Congress. 
Will you co-operate in bringing about any such amendment 
— that is, any amendment wnich recognizes God and which 
intimates that our government is as much Christian as our 
people are 1 

" John Alexander, Corresponding Secretary of the Na- 
tional Association, * * * Philadelphia, will furnish you 
copies of this address and other documents bearing on this 
measure. Circulate such documents among your neighbors 
and acquaintances. Attend conventions which may be held 
for discussing the subject. Join in forming auxiliary associ- 
ations in your county or district. Sign the memorial of that 
association^ or any that is near you, that in due time it may 
be forwarded to Congress through your Representative." — 
Christia?i Tract. 

They have received numerous favorable responses from 
some of the most intelligent and influential gentlemen in the 
nation, many of whom are filling high official positions in 
the gift of the people, and who ought to be watched by the 
Liberalists, now that the religious amendment has become a 
political issue. A few prominent names are published, with 
their letters, in the tract, as follows : 

From Hon. Wm. Strong, of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. 

"Philadelphia, April 3d, 1866. 

, "John Alexander, Esq. — Dear Sir : I have heard the address of 

your Association ' to the voting citizens of the United States, and to all 

thoughtful persons who love their country,' and I entirely concur with the 

views presented by it. The views are worthy of the attention of all our 



Il6 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

people, and they are presented in such a manner as to commend them to 
the considerate reflection of every one. 

" I am very respectfully, W. STRONG." 



From the Rt. Rev. C. P. McIlvaine, Bishop of the Diocese of Ohio. 

"Cincinnati, March 7th, 1866. 
" Rev. T. p. Stevenson — Dear Sir : I am very ready to say, that I 
consider the Constitution as defective in a most important degree, in hav- 
ing no acknowledgement of God. of Christ, or of the Scriptures, in some 
such way as the language proposed to be inserted, contains. Whether 
any movement to obtain the insertion of what ought to be there can 
succeed, is a question. That it ought to succeed, and that the effort should 
be made, I am well convinced. If it fail, those who try, will thus far 
have done their duty, and as citizens, will have held up their testimony 
before the nation. Therefore, while I do not commit myself to the pre- 
cise form of words contained in the appeal, understanding it as intended 
only to suggest the substance of what should be enacted, I wish to be 
considered as uniting in the movement. 

" Yours very truly, CHAS. P. McILVAINE, 

" Bishop Prot. Ep. Church, Diocese of Ohio." 



From Rev. T. J. Pressly, D. D., U. P. Theological Seminary, Allegheny, Pa. 

"Allegheny, March 12th, 1866. 
" Dear Sir : The Faculty of our Institution most cordially sympathize 
with this movement, and shall be happy to do what we can in our appro- 
priate place to secure its success. 

" With great regard your friend, 
" Rev. T. P. Stevenson. JOHN T. PRESSLY." 



From Hon. B. Gratz Brown, U. S. Senator from Missouri. 

"St. Louis, November 19th, 1864. 
****** Let me say that I will gladly help on God's work in the pu- 
rifying and exalting this nation, and inscribing His Word as its Supreme 
Law, in any and all ways, and in any and all places. I believe, unless 
we become in very truth a Christian nation, all other nationality will be 
ephemeral and delusive. I believe, furthermore, that the world and espe- 
cially the western world, is awakening from its age of unbelief or spirit- 
ual languor, and that we are coming upon periods of active faith, when 
men will again seize upon, and live or die by religious convictions as in 
days of old. Let us then, by all means, help forward that expression, 
which shall inscribe as the banner of our people. The Banner of the Lord. 
" Yours truly. B. GRATZ BROWN." 



From the Faculties of Princeton Theological Seminary, and College of New Jersey. 
"We cordially approve of the object of the foregoing memorial, and 
desire to do all we lawfully can to promote it. 

" Charles Hodge, Lymon H. Atwater, John T. Duffield, 
"Alex. T. McGill, Henry C. Cameron, Jos. C. Moffat, 
"Wm. H.Green, I. H. McIlvaine, C. Wister Hodge. 
" We add our cordial concurrence. 

" M. W. Jacobus, D. Elliott, 
" S. G. Wilson, A. A. Hodge. 

" Professors in Western Theological Seminary, Allegheny, Pa." 



OUR COUNTRY OR RELIGION I WHICH? 1 1? 

From Rev. Samuel Roosevelt Johnson, D.D., Professor in General Theological 
Seminary, Prot. Ep., New York. 

"Burlington, N. J., April 2d, 1S66. 
" Dear Sir : I am desirous to see the recognition of the belief in God, 
of the belief in Christian faith, in the Constitution, and whenever it can 
suitably be introduced. I have flattered myself, with Bishop Mcllvaine's 
view, that our great nation does substantially and largely declare itself a 
Christian nation ; and also that God does not look so much at paper doc- 
uments as he does at the very Christianity which pervades the people. 
Still, as we have been pointed at by many as being not committed to any 
religion whatsoever, I am one who would gladly relieve enemies of an 
ungracious opportunity, and friends of an oppressive and anxious thought. 
" Ever most truly and respectfully, 

"SAMUEL ROOSEVELT JOHNSON." 



From Rev. Henry Smith, D. D., Lane Theological Seminary, Cincinnati, Ohio. 

"Cincinnati, O., January 29, 1866. 
" John Alexander, Esq. — Dear Sir : I have no hesitation in saying 
that I regard the object had in view by the ' National Association for the 
Amendment of the Constitution of the United States,' exceedingly im- 
portant ; and the measures proposed to secure the object, are in my judg- 
ment, both wise and timely. I shall be glad to co-operate in any way in 
my power in securing the end proposed. 

" I am very truly yours, HENRY SMITH." 



From Rev. Francis Vinton, D. D., Rector of Trinity Church, New York. 

" Trinity Church, New York. 
" Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, January 25th, 1S66. 
" Rev. T. p. Stevenson — My Dear Sir : It gives me satisfaction to 
know of the movement to procure an Amendment of the Constitution of 
the United States which shall acknowledge God and our Lord Jesus 
Christ. 

" If such a fundamental recognition of HIM should be made by the 
people of this country, it would be the token of His Presence both now 
and always. It is gratifying to observe the pious acknowledgment of 
God on the public coins. Let the same acknowledgment find place in 
our Constitution and we shall become in principle a Christian Nation. 
" Yours faithfully, FRANCIS VINTON." 



From Rev. H. L. Baugher, D. D., President of Pennsylvania College, (Lutheran,) 
Gettysburg, Pa. 

"Pennsylvania College, March 8th, 1866. 

"***■* It is strange that the recognition of God the P"alher Al- 
mighty, and Jesus Christ as the Ruler of the Universe, in this dispensa- 
tion of mercy, should have been so long overlooked and neglected in the 
fundamental article of our government. 

" I rejoice in this movement, and feel that we cannot be safe as a nation 
until the name of our God and Savior is put into our Constitution, and 
recognized always and every where as the source of our power. Right 



Il8 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

gladly will I co-operate in this work, and hope and pray that it may meet 
with complete and abundant success. 

" Yours respectfully, H. L. BAUGHER." 

" We cordially concur in the general views expressed by President 
Baugher. M. L. Stoever, F. A. Muhlenberg, 

Alfred M. Mayer, M. Jacobs, 

" Professors in Pennsylvania College." 
— Christian Tract. 

Senator B. Gratz Brown sighs for the good old time of 
" active faith " — the halcyon days of witch-burning, Quaker- 
hanging, heretic-roasting — when men will " live or die by re- 
ligious conviction as in days of old." So he talks war, too. 

The Rev. Francis Vinton was gratified " to observe the 
pious acknowledgment of God on the public coins." With 
what unction he must have laid the sweet thought to his soul, 
that, at any rate, there was an acknowledgment of a nickel 
God ! The progress made in a few short years must be a 
source of comfort to every pious soul ! The old, bungling 
copper cent had the figure of a woman's head, generally 
called the head of the Goddess of Liberty, with the word 
" LIBERTY" enstamped uponit, and thirteen stars encir- 
cling it. But that is too common, too plain and simple, like 
the Fathers of the Republic. Note the progress (!) It is 
reported that during the late war, while one of the officials 
at Washington was in prayerful meditation to know what 
motto he should choose for the then new nickel coins, he 
asked one of his fellow officials to assist in extricating him 
from the mazes of the profound question by suggesting some 
appropriate Bible motto. He thought he could assist him, 
and suggested Acts iii : 6, " Silver and gold have I none ; 
but such as I have give I thee," from which it will be seen 
he was nothing but a profane wit ; and it is a matter of sur- 
prise how such a man was ever appointed to fill an official 
place in Washington. In sheer desperation the man of God 
selected, "In God we trust," thinking he was quoting Bible. 
When he was a very small boy he had read something that 
sounded like it. 

I will close this chapter by showing that the Catholics 
have the same idea as Constitutional-God Christians of the 



OUR COUNTRY OR RELIGION I WHICH? II9 

superiority of Religion to the political institutions of the 
country. The Catholic Worlds a skillfully conducted quar- 
terly, says : 

" While the State has rights, she has the?n only in virtue ajid 
by permission of the superior authority^ and that authority can 
only be expressed through the Church — that is, through the 
organic law infallibly announced and unchangeably asserted, 
regardless of temporal consequences." 

The Catholics of the United States can gracefully say to 
Constitutional-God Protestants, " Thank you, gentlemen, for 
at last coming to the true doctrine of Church-and-State. 
Now, you may as well renounce your right-of-private-judg- 
ment conceits — which you have learned by sad experience, 
you know, never could be made practical without ending in 
Tank infidelity — and come into the bosom of the true Chris- 
tian Church, and we will all vote together for the reign of 
Jesus Christ on earth." 

The New York Tablet^ another Catholic journal, clearly 
defines the position of the Church on the question of Our 
Country and Religion : 

" The authority of the State, held as a trust from God, is 
held subject to the law of God, and the Church is the di- 
vinely-appointed guardian and judge of that law, whether 
the natural law or the supernatural law. The State has no 
right to do or command any thing not authorized or per- 
mitted by the law of God as interpreted, declared, or defined 
by the infallible Church of God ; and the faithful are for- 
bidden to obey it when it commands them to do anything 
the law of God, as declared by his unerring Church, forbids, 
or does not permit. This, of course, asserts the supremacy 
of the spiritual order, and subjects the State, whatever its 
form, to the law of God as defined by the spiritual authority. 
This is, as far as we know it, Catholic doctrine. The State 
is not bound by the opinions of churchmen or priests any 
more than it is by the opinions of statesmen, but it is bound 
by what the Church teaches and declares is the law of God. 
The Church defines for the faithful the powers of the State, 
but it is not the medium througli which they are necessarily 
conferred. If the principles declared in the Declaration of 



I20 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

Independence and the Bills of Rights adopted by several 
States are incompatible with this doctrine, it by no means 
follows that it is not true. They who deny the infallibility 
of the Church must not expect us to admit the infallibity of 
the State, or of the people, in or out of the convention. 
AVe subordinate our politics to our religion, not our religion 
to our politics ; and if the American people do otherwise so 
much the worse for them." 

The Christian Statesman finds that view so strikingly like 
its own that it falls into a spasm, and gaspingly offers the 
following few words upon it : 

" The heaven-wide difference between this theory of the 
State, and that which underlies the Religious Amendment is 
so manifest that they can only be confounded by willful false- 
hood. We hold the equal right of the State with the Church 
to examine for itself the law of God, and to accept and ad- 
minister that law, subject to no authority but God himself," 

Like the dog who did not know its own shadow in the 
water, so the Statesman fails to recognize its reflection in the 
Catholic doctrine of Church-and-State union; or, rather, 
Religion in preference to our country. Or, what may be 
worse for the Protestants, they are ashamed to recognize 
their dignified " mother of harlots " — more disgrace to the 
daughters than the mother — upon whom they have heaped 
so much reproach. 

If any one can perceive the "heaven-wide difference " be- 
tween the Constitutional-God Christians and the Catholics 
it will be a remarkable discovery. The State and Church 
together, it is claimed, have the right to examine the " Law 
of God." Can either, or both, do this without officials 1 
No. The interpreters of " God's Law," then, will be Chris- 
tian officials! The Protestants have already committed 
themselves to the doctrine that if there is any conflict be- 
tween Church and State they are to " obey God rather than 
man," /. e.^ the Church is to be the dominant power. Such, 
too, is the Catholic doctrine. Years ago I informed the 
clergy, in their Conventions, that this proposed religious 



OUR COUNTRY OR RELIGION: WHICH? 121 

amendment would set them high and dry upon Catholic 
ground. There is where they now are. They believe and 
they teach that the Christian Church is capable of making 
all the laws that mankind need ; and Church members arro- 
gate to themselves the ability to make more wholesome laws 
than the State can create ; hence, the State is a superfluity. 
The State disposed of, the country becomes a Church estab- 
lishment for the " glory of God " — our country a sacrifice to 
religion. 

Let us breathe freely, think independently and speak 
boldly while we may, and avert, if it be possible, such a 
catastrophe. 



VII. 



CLERICAL EMPIRE. 

" Woe to the priesthood I woe 

To those whose hire is with the price of blood, — 
Perverting, darkening, changing as they go, 
The searching truths of God ! 

" Their glory and their might 

Shall perish ; and their very names shall be 
Vile before all the people, in the light 
Of a world's liberty." 

—John G. Whittier. 

Let Church-and-State union be established, and the rule 
of the clergy would become at once supreme. The men 
engaged in this movement have labored to convince the peo- 
ple that the proposed religious amendment is nothing of the 
nature of union of Church and State. Sagacious men! 
They know that such a principle is exceedingly distasteful 
to the American public, and in fact is repulsive to the ma- 
jority, no doubt, of the American clergy themselves ; but 
when the existence of the Church is jeopardized in the con- 
test, it will not be difficult for them to decide in favor of 
Christ and his kingdom, in the form of Church-and-State 
union, against the rule of Infidelity. Rev. J. H. Mcllvaine 
anticipates the objection that must arise in the minds of 
nearly all inquirers. He says: 

" // is nothing of the nature of a ic7iion of Church and State. 
A union of Church and State is not possible without an es- 
tablished Church, which, of course, in the present state of 
Christianity must be some one branch or denomination of 
Christians to the exclusion of others. This would place all 



CLERICAL EMPIRE 123 

Other denominations under the disadvantages and disabiUties 
of dissenters. In direct opposition to this, we hold that all 
such arrangements are contrary to the true idea of Chris- 
tianity and equally so to that of the State ; and that they 
ever have been, and ever must be, a great fons et origo malo- 
ru7n — a source of innumerable social and moral evils. We 
hold that the Church and State are co-ordinate institutions 
of God, essentially independent of each other, and both 
alike immediately responsible to Him. What we seek is, 
that the nation, as such, in its fundamental and organic law, 
should explicitly acknowledge its own responsibility to God, 
and the supreme authority of his moral laws." 

The professor supposed a barrier to such an union that 
does not really exist — the denominations, one jealously 
watching the other ; as though it were impossible for a few of 
the strongest and most orthodox to unite for a fundamental 
purpose, and so secure the result that he supposes is impos- 
sible- — "the exclusion of others." This state of things even 
now exists. See the Young Men's Christian Association, 
composed mainly of Evangelical, or Orthodox Protestant 
Christians, to the exclusion, in many places, of Universalists, 
Unitarians, and other so-called liberal Christians. If Chris- 
tians will thus unite against Christians, what favor may Infi- 
dels, Atheists, Jews and Pagans expect from them .? If " all 
such arrangements" are contrary to the "true idea" of 
Christianity, it is a singular fact that whenever Christianity, 
Protestant or Catholic, has followed its own will, unchecked 
by civil power, it has sought to make government subservi- 
ent to its own despotic sway, which has truly been a " source 
of innumerable social and moral evils." 

Church union, for which so many Christians are zealously 
striving, will form the basis of union of Church and State. 
Church union is supposed by many to be an utter impossi- 
bility. It is argued that the sectarian strife between Protes- 
tant denominations will form an impassable gulf between 
them and union. Protestantism confesses itself threatened 
by a common danger — Infidelity in various garbs. Now, the 
question is, will Protestants unite for a common purpose ? 
Will they willingly sink denominational differences for the 



124 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

sake of acquiring greater influence, and finally controlling 
the government ? Is there anything analogous to this now ? 
I answer, The Young Men's Christian Association is to Prot- 
estantism what Jesuitism was to Roman Catholicism. It 
wields a tremendous power already. The very fact of the 
existence of such an association is a conclusive answer to 
the question, " Will Protestants unite ? " 

A religious paper, called the Church Union, which was 
formerly published in New York city by Henry E. Childs, 
and afterwards by C. Kennedy, was for a while edited by 
seven different editors of seven different denominations, 
neither of whom was known to the other six — they being in 
the employ of a combination of sects, under the business 
management of parties who kept the names and locations of 
the editors from each other. The Church Ufiion published 
at the head of its editorial column the following : 

" BOND OF UNION : 

" We, the undersigned, believers i7t the doctrines of the Holy 
Scriptures as set forth in the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds, do 
hereby pledge ourselves to secure, imder God, an open commu?tion, 
and the recognition of one evangelical ministry, by the i?iter- 
change of pulpits, thus to 7nake visible the unity of the Church. 

''''And we furthermore solemnly pledge ourselves to stand by 
each other in securing these ends.'' 

The indications are that a union of Church and State is 
intended to follow a union of the Churches under " one 
evangelical ministry, by the interchange of pulpits." 

When the united Protestants will find themselves still too 
weak to cope with the common sense of the people, they 
will, as a der7iier resort, join hands with the Catholics. This 
will appear to the majority of readers very improbable. 
But when the issue will be Christianity or Godlessness, Prot- 
estants, with comparatively few exceptions, will declare them- 
selves in favor of Christianity in any fortn in preference to 
practical Atheism. Hence, instead of a union of Protestants 
and Catholics against the opponents of Christianity being 



CLERICAL EMPIRE. 1 25 

improbable, it is indeed likely to take place. There is more 
nominal than real difference between Catholicism and Prot- 
estantism. The bitterness that formerly existed between 
them has measurably subsided. Thousands of the wealthiest 
and most cultivated Protestant families in America do not 
look upon Catholicism as the hateful, hideous thing that the 
impetuous Luther and stern Calvin represented it. Protest- 
ants of to-day do not share the prejudices of those vindic- 
tive sectarians against the Mother Christian Church. The 
feeling is becoming generally prevalent among them thai 
there are many, very many, true, noble Christian men and 
women in the Catholic communion. Therefore, it has be- 
come fashionable for wealthy Protestants to place their 
daughters in Catholic schools, which are celebrated for their 
thoroughness and good moral influences. The careful train- 
ing, and vigilant guardianship exercised over young ladies 
by the conductors of Catholic educational institutions, is 
conceded to be superior to anything furnished by Protestant 
schools, colleges or seminaries. Sagacious Protestant in- 
structors perceive the advantages offered by Catholic institu- 
tions of learning, and are imitating them. 

In church matters, also, the Protestants are either goiirg 
back to Catholicism, or forward to free religion — another 
name for open Infidelity. The principal difference between 
Catholicism and Protestantism is the Infidelity in the latter. 
Affirmatively the two are substantially the same. Protest- 
ants, from Luther down, have acknowledged that in Popery 
ai-e to be founds// the truths of salvation, as they term them. 
Says an able Catholic author, " The founder of the Catholic 
Church is our Lord Jesus Christ, and her Apostles are 
Saint Peter Saint Paul, Saint John, and the other messen- 
gers of Faith appointed by the Founder. 

" The founder of Protestantism is Luther, and its apostles 
Calvin, Zwinglius & Co. 

'' There's a choice for you." 

In former days the crucifix, or cross, w2s almost detested 
by Protestants, and called an emblem of Catholic idolatry. 



126 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

It has been coming into more general use, as an emblem 
among Protestants ; showing itself in stained window glass, 
(as though a little ashamed of itself,) then painted back of 
pulpits, hung on the walls of Sunday school rooms : and, 
finally, breaking out on the top of spires. 

The Indianapolis Journal^ of January 28, 187 1, contains 
the following : 

" Dr. Pusey, it is said, is founding a new community of 
Anglican nuns, whose dress is to be entirely white. Protest- 
ant Sisterhoods, such as the Kaiserwerth Deaconesses^ are 
very flourishing in Germany, and are gaining in popular 
favor both in England and America." 

News comes by way of English papers that a Mr. McLeod, 
in Dunse, Scotland, of the Established Scotch Church, " has 
been introducing Confession and Absolution among his 
parishioners, urging them to such confession in a pastoral 
letter, and the matter has been brought before the Presby- 
tery. In Mr. McLeod's view, a minister, though not war- 
ranted to say to the sick and the penitent, as a Roman Cath- 
olic priest would say, ' I absolve thee,' may say, ' Thy sins 
are forgiven through the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.'" 

Theodore Tilton's paper contains an article, in regard to 
several societies of Protestants, who have adopted practical 
Catholicism It is as follows : 



"Protestantism, like Catholicism, has its institutions of 
nuns, and some of the most efficient charities of New York 
are carried on by sisterhoods of good women who are united 
by a tie of obligation, wear a grave and peculiar dress, and 
devote themselves to works of benevolence. These estab- 
lishments have none of the objectionable features of the 
conventual systems of the Romish Church. There is no 
vow of celibacy on the part of the sisters, no slavish super- 
stition of worship, no isolation from the world and the old 
ties of home and friendship. The ladies who are thus 
banded together Jiave assumed their obligations from the 
freest choice, and are associated in ' homes ' simply because 
they can thus accomplish more of good than they could by 



CLERICAL EMPIRE. 1 27 

isolated effort, while they have adopted a simple uniform as 
a matter at once of convenience and protection. The garb 
of a sister of charity, be she Catholic or Protestant, insures 
her against insult, even from the lowest, whatever dens of 
infamy she may enter, and at whatever hour of the twenty- 
four she may be abroad. 

" The Sisters of St. Mary number about forty, who are 
under the jurisdiction of one of their members to whom they 
give the honorable title of ' Mother,' a lady who is peculiarly 
fitted by nobility and firmness of character to be at the head 
of the establishment. The dress which these sisters wear, 
consists of a long black stuff robe, made rather full, with a 
small cape over the shoulders, and girdled at the waist by a 
heavy cord. A broad collar of white linen is buttoned round 
the throat, while a linen cap with stiff fluted border covers 
the head and surrounds the face, and conceals every vestige 
of hair. Before becoming ' a full sister ' each candidate must 
serve * a novitiate ' of two years, in order that she may be 
quite sure of her heartfelt preference for the life she has 
chosen, as when she assumes the obligations of sisterhood 
she is supposed to take them for life, although she is at entire 
liberty to leave the order should she so wish. The uniform 
of the novices varies from that of the nuns only in the collar 
and cap, which are of thin lawn. 

" Under the charge of those excellent ladies there are three 
establishments : St. Mary's hospital for children in West 
40th street, where poor, diseased creatures can be brought 
for treatment and nursing, and which is quite a paradise for 
little people, with its clean beds, airy rooms, flowers and 
pictures ; St. Mary's school on East 46th street, which was 
instituted ' in order to furnish young girls an education on 
terms as low as those of the Roman Catholic schools,' and 
which is in a very flourishing condition, numbering upwards 
of one hundred scholars from the daughters of our best 
people ; and, finally, the House of Mercy, quite out in the 
country, near the river, on West 86th street. This is a home 
for fallen women, and has accommodations for ninety pa- 
tients. Here, if anywhere, is there a hope of restoring these 
poor creatures to virtue, away from the corrupt atmosphere 
of the city, and under the pure influences of the devoted 
women who are laboring heart and soul in this good work. 

" Another and older association of ' Protestant Nuns ' is 
the Sisterhood of the Holy Communion, which was estab- 
lished many years ago, and which differs considerably in or- 
ganization from the society just described. Compared to 



128 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

the Sisters of St. Mary, the Sisters of the Holy Communion 
would be held to be ' Low Church' in their principles, though 
they are all Episcopalians, professing precisely the same 
form of belief. The members of Sisterhood after a ' proba- 
tion ' of six months, assume their obligations for no more 
than three years, at the end of which period they are at en- 
tire liberty to remain for another term of service or to return 
to the world. Their uniform is a black stuff dress not dif- 
fering from the usual form, a muslin collar and small tarleton 
cap pinned to the back of the head. They number about 
twenty, under the rule of a 'first sister,' who has been many 
years in the society 

" Although the Sisters of the Holy Communion seem fewer 
in number than the Sisters of St. Mary, they are so largely 
assisted by volunteers, who, remain for a shorter or longer 
period at will, that they carry on very extensive charities, 
St, Luke's Hospital is known to all New Yorkers as one of 
our most flourishing benevolent institutions, standing in its 
pleasant yard, shaded with trees and bright with flowers 
through all the summer, and high up on 5th avenue at 54th 
street, near the Park. It is an attractive spot, even to the 
idle ; how much more so to the weary and toil-worn sufferers 
who find refuge in its walls .'* It contains six wards, three 
on each side of the house, so arranged as to communicate 
with the chapel in the centre. Those on the one hand for 
men, those on the other hand for women and children. 
During the past year over one thousand patients have re- 
ceived care and attention under its kindly roof. 

" On the corner of 20th street and 6th avenue, close to the 
Church of the Holy Communion, is another most excellent 
charity under the charge of the Sisters. Here there is a 
home for old women, where in pleasant and spacious apart- 
ments, eighteen of the poor and feeble of the weaker sex 
pass the few remaining years of their lives in comfort and 
rest ; and a shelter for homeless girls, where young creatures 
who are friendless and destitute in this great city, are pro- 
tected temporarily, or till they can find homes and employ- 
ment. There is also in a lower room, a female school where 
upwards of one hundred children are daily instructed, and a 
dispensary open all day for the gratuitous bestowal of advice 
and medicine. 

" Some forty miles out of town, on the north shore of 
Long Island, there is quite a village which is called St John- 
land, and consists entirely of the charitable establishments 
and buildings of the Sisters of the Holy Communion, and 



CLERICAL EMPIRE. 1 29 

their assistants. Here there is a home for old men, where 
in the breezy country they find a rest for the remnant of 
their days ; a home for crippled children, where poor de- 
formed creatures are taught trades, and thus fitted to sup- 
port themselves ; a home for orphan girls, and another for 
orphan boys : all these houses, with the church, schoolhouse, 
and residence of the clergyman, make up quite a settlement, 
• and is one of the best and most prosperous benevolent insti- 
tutions in the neighborhood of New York. 

" Finally, the Sisters of the Good Shepherd have charge of 
the excellent charity, St. Barnabas House. These ladies 
are few in number and wear no other uniform than a plain 
black dress and white apron. They are united under an 
* elder sister '; having several 'probationers ' as their assist- 
ants, and are also aided by volunteers who come for a few 
days or hours as they can give time. St. Barnabas consists 
of two houses on Mulberry street, near the Police Head- 
quarters. ' Here, as a place of refuge, are received home- 
less women and children applying from the streets or w^an- 
dering in from the country; also women discharged from 
hospital, cured, and only requiring a few days of repose to 
gain strength, yet having no friends in the city and no money 
to journey in search of them elsewhere,' As it is intended 
only for a temporary resting place, the larger part of those 
received are sent within a week to situations, to other insti- 
tutions, or to their homes. ' There are here beds for fifty- 
two women and about as many children, and no person, how- 
ever low and degraded, or at whatever hour of the night she 
may apply, is ever turned from their hospitable doors. It is 
a great thing that in our large city there is such a safe and 
respectable refuge for homeless wanderers where they can 
receive kind care and protection.' 

" It will be seen by this brief sketch, that the work per- 
formed by our Protestant Sisters of Charity is a great and 
noble one, none the less noble because some of the sister- 
hood choose to call the room where they worship ' the ora- 
tory,' the daily service ' the office,' and the dining room ' the 
refectory,' " — Golden Age, May 20, 187 1. 

A veteran minister in the Chicago Advance, December 29, 
1870, says, in regard to dealing with Romanism, that Roman- 
ists should not be discriminated against, by Protestants, in 
political affairs. The reason he assigns is that it might re- 
bound upon themselves I 
9 



130 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

The Catholics estimate their own numbers in the United 
States at more than five millions. Protestants cannot obtain 
control of this government independently of them. The 
"veteran minister," in the A d7ia7i<:e, deems the exercise of 
political power by the Protestants independently of, or dis- 
criminating against, Catholics, a sacrifice of much that is 
"manly and noble and Christian." He said were we to ex- 
clude Catholics from office, " then, as long as we continue to 
be more numerous than Romanists, and outsiders are not 
aroused against us, we might succeed in accomplishmg our 
ends to some extent." 

As Catholics and Protestants have so much in common, 
the union of the two appears to be inevitable. But whether 
they unite or not, each desiring political power, both will 
make civil government secondary to religion ; the Church 
will become in practice what it is in theory, the dominant 
power — provided the clergy can indoctrinate the minds of 
the people with the old notions of "Divine Government," 
and excite prejudice against that of the people. 

While engaged in an earnest discussion at one time with 
several clergymen, I endeavored to maintain the soundness 
of a peoples' government. I received the following reply 
from one of them : 

" But is not ' vox populi vox Dei V We reply to this dem- 
agogical blasphemy by asking if the yells of a God-denying 
people is his voice ? Were the blasphemies of the atheisti- 
cal mob that ruled France the voice of God .^ The assump- 
tion is impiously absurd. More truly 'vox populi' is 'vox 
diaholi' The voice of God is the still small voice in the 
soul of the spiritually enlightened and faithful child of God. 
Let us not stultify ourselves by assuming that the political 
voice of this nation is the voice of the God whom we point- 
edly ignore in our Constitution and laws. 

" What is the union of Church and State which we advo- 
cate 1 During the recent debates in the English Parliament 
the Prime Minister, who contended for the union, defined it 
to be 'a recognitioji in govenwient of responsibility to divine 
power." No one disputed the definition. Is this anything 
horrible, or even unreasonable 'i Is it not what every reli- 



CLERICAL EMPIRE. 



131 



gioiis man should desire ? We plead for no priesthood, no 
elaborate State ceremonials, but simply ' the recognition in 
our government of responsibility to divine power,' in contra- 
distinction from human reason and authority." 

The voice of the people is called, by this Divine, the voice 
•of the devil ! The leaders engaged in this nefarious move- 
ment, of Church-and-State union, know that the people dis- 
like any approach to such union. 

In one of the Christian Conventions, Rev. T. P. Steven- 
son, Secretary of the National Reform Association, Philadel- 
phia, is represented by the Christian Statesman, December 
15, 1872, as saying that there is no tendency to union of 
Church and State. "As a nation," said he, "we are not in 
danger of becoming too religious ; we are in danger of 
losing what little religion is left to us. American liberties 
are not threatened to-day by the American Church, but the 
foundations of American society are threatened by a licen- 
tious free-thinking which threatens to revolutionize morals 
and extirpate religion." This free-thinking they desire to 
prevent. In the same paper occurs the following : 

" According to our national constitution no religious qual- 
ification is required for the Presidency or any other office. 
An Infidel, Atheist, or Pagan may hold the highest office in 
the gift of the nation unchallenged." 

Which is the glory and just boast of Liberalists every- 
where. The Christian Statesman continues : 

" The ' Divine right of Kings ' was only the true idea of 
government exaggerated and carried to excess. It was 
based upon the recognition of God as the source of govern- 
mental authority. But kings and rulers had made this idea 
the cloak for all kinds of abuses and villainies, and there 
was a rebound in the opposite direction ; the idea that soci- 
ety was nothing but a mere compact of individuals for ma- 
terial ends gained ground. When our government was 
established the ' Fathers of the Republic ' Avere, many of 
them, under the influence of this infidel idea of human 



132 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

society and government, and very naturally this bias was 
felt in the formation of the young nationality." 

It is, then, only the " abuse " of kingly power that this 
class of Christians object to, A king and kingdom is the 
Bible idea of government. 

A clergyman in the Oskaloosa, (Iowa,) Convention did not 
disclaim Church-and- State union. Said he : 

" What are the objections to this proposed union of Church 
and State .'' The religious tyranny of former ages 1 We 
reply, that the abuse of a system is not conclusive against 
its use. The abuses of free government in Venice and France 
did not prevent its establishment here. Said Madam Roland, 
at her execution, ' O Liberty, what crimes have been com- 
mitted in thy name ! ' What crimes have been committed in 
the name of religion! But shall we honor or worship it less.-* 
We have no more reason to fear the abuse of religious gov- 
ernment than we have of free government. We have learned 
its fundamental principles, as we have those of liberty. It 
means ' peace on earth and good will toward men ; ' and 
committed to a people free in thought and act, it will, by 
divine grace, bear such fruit as the world has not yet seen." 

The Church Union says : 

' The political fabric, firmly built and compact in every 
joint, will be prepared for the long-desired millennial king- 
dom, with Christ the Divine Head of Church and State. 
Then will be realized the prayers of saints of all ages, and 
his kingdom indeed come and his will be done on earth as 
in heaven." 

In all the speeches, sermons and articles by the clergy, on 
the subject, this idea of Church-and-State union is upper- 
most, let it be called by what name it may. What does it 
all mean } It indicates clerical rule, Clerical Empire ! 

It is not long since a paper called the Imperialist was pub- 
lished ; it had a brief existence, and died quietly and becom- 
ingly. It has, however, assumed another form. Its first 
was mainly political. Its second is religious predominant. 
Its " measure " was published in the World^s Crisis^ a reli- 
gious paper, April 21, 1869, in these words : 



CLERICAL EMPIRE. I33 

" THE IMPERIALIST. 

" The public and the trade are hereby informed that ar- 
rangements for the publication of The Imperialist are now 
fully completed, and the first number of this long-expected 
journal will be issued on Saturday, April 3d. 

" For the first time in the history of the United States, an 
American journal dares to proclaim as false, and pernicious 
in their influence, the Democratic dogmas of ' Popular Sov- 
ereignty' and 'Equality'; and to demand that, on the ruins 
of this unfortunate Republic, shall be reared the firm and 
substantial structure of an Empire. 

" The creed of The Imperialist is revolutionary : its mis- 
sion to prepare the mind of the American people for the 
revolution that has already begun throughout the country. 

" The conductors of this journal believe Democracy to be 
a failure. Though theoretically plausible, in its practical 
workings it has been found totally inadequate to the wants 
of the American people. 

" We believe that the national faith, if left in the keeping 
of the populace, will be sullied by the sure repudiation of 
the national debt, and that an Imperial Government can 
alone protect the rights of national creditors. 

" We believe that an Imperial Government, in its paternal 
relation to the people, will care equally for all citizens, and, 
while guaranteeing security to the rights of capital, will jeal- 
ously protect the interests of the industrial classes. 

" We believe that the Republic means lawlessness, corrup- 
tion, insecurity to persons and property, robbery of the 
public creditors, and civil war ; that the Empire means law, 
order, security, public faith and peace. 

" This creed The Imperialist will advocate earnestly, fear- 
lessly, and without compromise, and many will find in it the 
open expression of convictions and opinions long held and 
cherished in secret. Its columns will be free from the low 
vulgarisms which have heretofore disgraced American jour- 
nalism, and in the discussion of political and social questions, 
will unite the high tone and thorough culture of the English 
weekly press with the more popular features of the best 
current literature of the day. 

" The Imperialist will be published weekly, on Saturday. 
It will be promptly forwarded to other cities, and sold by 
newsdealers throughout the country. 

" All orders and business communications may be ad- 
dressed to the Imperial Publishing Company, 

" No. 37 Mercer Street, New York City." 



T34 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

That prospectus was published in many secular and relig- 
ious papers. The idea of " Empire " in America was appro- 
priately ridiculed. The "Imperial Government" kindly 
offered what the God-in-the-Constitution Christians now 
present, to " care equally for all citizens." Both movements 
contemplate a " high tone." Both pronounce democracy a 
failure. Both declare that the populace are incapable of 
self rule. Both denounce the Republic as a synonym for 
"lawlessness, corruption," etc. Both are bitterly opposed 
to French Infidelity. Both consider Republicanism as 
synonymous with mobocracy. Both advocate a " divine 
government " in contradistinction to a human one. 

It is not impossible to change this Republic into an Empire. 
The clergy would hail with delight such a consummation. 
Their sympathies are with Imperialism and against Republi- 
canism. The latter is anti-priest, anti-church, anti-Bible, 
and anti-God. 

From the Imperialist I extract the following : 

" The only government in the universe to which the attri- 
bute of absolute perfection can be assigned, is that of God, 
and with becoming reverence we may safely make the asser- 
tion that all human schemes are and will be nearer and 
nearer approaches to earthly perfection according as they 
imitate more and more nearly the divine model. In that 
government what we are accustomed to call ' representation ' 
is only known in the form of supplication," etc., etc. 

" The divine model " is to be found in the Bible. The 
whole paragraph is the sentiment of the clergy. This dan- 
gerous element is now infusing itself throughout American 
society in the form of the Christian religion. The bulk of 
sermons preached from the American pulpits are saturated 
with this idea of "divine government; " while a few secular 
papers and nearly the whole religious press sustain it, and 
deplore the existence of our present Infidel form of govern- 
ment. And is there no danger to be apprehended from such 
a wide-spread disaffection 1 It has already assumed a relig- 
ious form — the worst possible type. 



CLERICAL EMPIRE. 



135 



In order that the reader may obtain a truer reflex of the 
movement, I will present a few more extracts from the 
columns of the l7nperialist : 

" The people of the United States are to-day living under 
a government as wxak and inefficient as that of France 
during the last days of the Republic. The hour is near at 
hand when the words, 'The Empire is Peace,' proclaimed 
by a leader in whose patriotism, ability and fearlessness all 
can confide, will meet with an enthusiastic approval. 

" Does not America need peace to-day, precisely in the 
sense in which France needed it seventeen years ago 1 Shall 
we endure the anarchy of mob-rule until the nation is ruined 
past all hope of redemption } Shall we practically await the 
time when the Presidency shall become a prize to be fought 
for by miserable military adventurers, and submit in silence 
to the ignorant despotism of the successful contestant .? Or 
shall we not escape from anarchy on the one hand and an 
unchanging succession of small military despots on the other, 
by adopting, voluntarily and cheerfully, a strong, permanent, 
intelligent Imperial government } 

" Never was there a nation that needed more sorely a firm 
and enduring government. Never was there a people that 
longed more earnestly for domestic peace. 

" The grim soldier who recently succeeded to the chief 
place in our national government rode into power on the 
wave of popular enthusiasm aroused by his famous sentence, 
' Let us have Peace.' Can he give us peace while the power 
of the government is committed to the ignorant and vicious 
mob ? 

" If so, he is greater than Cromwell, or the First or Third 
Napoleon. If so, the age of miracles has returned, and ' a 
greater than Elijah is here.' 

" The Empire will bring us peace. Shall we refuse it be- 
cause we like not the name of the giver.? To-day the Impe- 
rialist raises the banner of the Empire against the red flag 
of Republican anarchy. Those who are governed by names 
and prejudice will cling to the Republic; those who prize 
law and order and government, will gladly await the Empire. 
The hour of its advent is not far distant. And when the 
hour has struck, the leader will be found ready." 

Remarkably paternal ! Just such a party, under the lead 



136 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

of "holy men," will find support, and will yet make our 
National Ship quiver from stem to stern. 

To show how the common sense idea of a plain, simple 
government, advanced by our Revolutionary Fathers, is 
bemg gradually uprooted, and the tinsel and glare and mock- 
ery of old rotten dynasties are being forced into their place, 
the numerous correspondents of the Imperialist serve as an 
index. Says one correspondent : 

" In our social system, every form of vice is rampant ; se- 
cretly, in our home-circles, and by the domestic fire-side ; 
publicly and openly, flaunting in the streets, and paraded in 
the columns of the press, in the form of prostitution ; hasty 
marriages, followed by brutality, license, and divorce ; abor- 
tion notoriously prosecuted as a profession, and advertised 
in the daily newspapers ; robbery, murder, suicide, and 
every other conceivable and unmentionable form of wicked- 
ness and demoralization, to an extent never before known in 
the history of civilization." 

And, still, it is this very civilization that ministers boast 
of as the fruit of their Christian preaching ! 
This correspondent continues : 

" Bribery and corruption in high places are the only roads 
to success, and to him who will not stoop to these, success is 
impossible. By this false system of universal suffrage, we 
have elected to rule over us men who squander the public 
moneys, deprave the nation's honor, and make the name of 
American a hissing and a" bye- word among men. Abroad 
we are known as a nation of boasters and robbers. At home 
we are daily and hourly proving that we are entitled to the 
appellations." 

A correspondent from Moscow, Ky., says: 

" The people, as a unit, will sustain you, throughout this 
whole section of country." 

Another, from Brookline, Mass., says : 

" I received your specimen copy on Monday, and am very 
much obliged. I shall endeavor to circulate it among my 



CLERICAL EMPIRE. 1 37 

friends. It just suits my sentiments, and those also of a 
large number of educated people." 

A correspondent from Washington, D. C, says : 

" I thank you for the copy of the Imperialist you sent me. 
It is an able paper, and is pointing with the linger of destiny 
the course into which this government is rapidly drifting. 
We shall have either 

1. A monied monopoly that absorbs all industries, 

2. A dishonest abandonment of all principle, and a repu- 
diation of all honest obligations. 

3. A military despotism. 

4. An Imperial Government, or 

5. An utter disintegration and segregation of States, which 
will leave the United States of America — once so great, so 
happy, and so free — in the same pitiable condition that 
Mexico presents to the world." 

A writer from Boston, says ; 

" I am a native of Massachusetts, and am of Puritan 
ancestry, but have never identified myself with any political 
party, from an innate conviction that Republicanism — or 
rather Democracy — was a mistake, and a life-long belief that 
a Monarchial Government is the only kind which can inspire 
true patriotism and sincere loyalty, and I hail the issue of the 
Ivipei'ialist as designed to disseminate these truths. I am 
convinced that ideas of this nature have long lain dormant 
in many breasts, and can be developed into a practical work- 
ing power by such high-toned, logical and vigorous essays as 
I infer from what I have seen will characterize your paper." 

The Editor of the Imperialist says : 

" The following letter has been put into our hands with 
permission to publish it : 

'"Springfield, III., May ist, 1869. 

" ' Dear Tom : The three copies of the Imperialist which 
you informed me you had m.ailed to me, have duly come to 
hand. What do I think of it .^ Why, I must confess to a 
big scare. Has the man of the 2d of December dared to 
put his hooked nose into our affairs, trying to do here with 
the pen what he attempted to do in Mexico with the sword 1 
Oh, for St. Dunstan with his red-hot tongs to tweak the infer- 



138 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

nal proboscis, and send back its sooty owner howling ! 
Seriously, what does it mean ? I have read carefully all the 
numbers, and this I must say : If this is the Devil's doing, 
he has sent on the Satanic mission the smartest imp in his 
dominions. The Imperialist is written with wonderful power; 
I do not know another journal in the country that is its 
superior, or, I may say, equal to it in talent. Send it to me 
regularly. I shall watch this operation with much interest.' " 

Here are a few samples of hundreds of newspaper 
opinions : 

Says the New York Citize7i : 

" Absurdest of all things is it to say, in the face of facts, 
that a change in the present form, or even a sudden and 
violent overthrow of our present form of government, is 
impossible." 

Says the LaGrange (Ga.) Reportei' : 

" The popular mind of this country is in great foment, and 
we are, perhaps, on the verge of a great political revolution, 
which may end in war and bloodshed, which we pray God to 
avert from this country." 

The Tarboro (N. C.) Soittherner says : 

"It is a great mistake for journals professing to represent 
public sentiment to make light of this important movement 
and say 'it is all bosh,' for it is a stern and undeniable fact 
that the idea has taken root, and whether it is to produce 
fruit in this generation or not, remains yet to be seen. 

" Any change from the present disorganized and oppress- 
ive form of government cannot but be hailed by the whole 
country as a lasting benefit." 

Says the Grand Rapids Journal : 

" A prominent Republican, who is an officer of the United 
States, remarked in the presence of a gentleman of this city, 
only a few days since, ' that there was no use of battling 
against such a movement, and that he, though an officer 
under the party in power, believes that in Gen. Grant we 
behold the last President, and perhaps the first E??iperor^ for 
the people.' " 



CLERICAL EMPIRE. I39 

The World's Crisis, a religious paper, states a fact that 
should place every true American on guard : 

" It is very evident that the feeling in favor of changing 
the American Republic to an Empire is gaining ground rap- 
idly.. The spirit of revolution is active in the whole civil- 
ized world. The people are uneasy in the present condition 
of things. The governments of earth are like a man seek- 
ing rest on a cold, hard bed, and finding none. He keeps 
tossing and turning, till he can endure it no longer; then 
rises for a change of some kind. He is sure he can be no 
worse off if he is obliged to sit up the rest of the night ; so 
the people are so tired of the political corruptions now exist- 
ing, they are anxious for a change of some kind. They are 
unwilling to endure the present state of things much longer. 
The conductors of the IiiipeiHalist know how to present the 
advantages to be obtained from an Imperial government in 
the most plausible light. The paper is ably conducted, and 
is sustained by a strong arm. Its managers and contributors 
are m earnest, and their power is already felt throughout the 
nation. It would be folly to deny this fact." — World's Crisis, 

Since " Imperialism " has assumed the religious form its 
progress has been still more rapid. " Political Reform 
Leagues," in which the religious feature is kept from the 
surface, "Protestant Reform Leagues," " State Christian Re- 
form (Religious amendment) Associations," are numerous, 
and extending their operations all over the Union, especially 
in the Northern States. Then, there is the National Chris- 
tian Association, headquarters at Philadelphia, Pa., " Evan- 
gelical Alliances," etc., etc. There has been, heretofore, but 
a feeble alarm sounded, while religious bigots have been 
drawing the issue to a burning focus, and now a political- 
religious contest is close at hand. The clergy have been 
laboring to educate the masses to bow their necks to impe- 
rial rule by representing it as God's rule. In Rev. Mr. 
Bain's speech in reply to Dr. Junkin, New Castle, Pa,, Nov. 
15th, 1869, we have the following: "Dr. Junkin said he 
was in favor of all men, Christians, Jews and Infidels, stand- 
ing on a perfect equality before the law. He was surprised 
that Mr. Bain should oppose this." Mr. Bain replied, "He 



I40 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

would not place Christianity, Infidelity, etc., on an equality. 
He would have our political institutions and laws CJwistian^ 
and then have all men stand on an equality under them." 
That is what the advocates of " Imperialism " desire. 

In Rev, James Wallace's speech, unanimously adopted by 
the National Reform Association of Illinois, it is affirmed, 
page lo : 

" No permanent reformation can be effected until the 
rulers of the nation acknowledge God and obey the only 
law of moral reform contained in His Word. Entire sub- 
jection to Jesus Christ as Lord of all, is the great and only 
i:)rinciple of national reform." 

The organ of the '''' ^^ioxxsx^'' \X\t Christian Statesman/va 
its issue of June 15, 187 1, confesses, exultingly, the growing 
clerical interest in their Movement : 

" The New York pulpit has been discussing politics during 
the past year with a freedom and boldness which augurs 
good results in future. The ' Political Reform ' movement 
has enlisted a great number of ministers of all denomina- 
tions in earnest and courageous denunciation of existing 
evils, and their 'zeal has provoked many others.' Their 
discourses have been reported in the city papers and quoted 
largely throughout the country. We judge that this single 
result accomplished by the Political Reform League is of 
greater value than any which it will ever achieve at the 
ballot box." 

What is true of New York, in this respect, is also true of 
many other cities. 

Clerical Empire is not only possible, but exceedingly 
probable. The origin, extent and progress of the political- 
God recognition makes this apparent to even the indifferent 
reader. 

To the Liberalists of the country I make my earnest 
appeal to arouse from their lethargy and look this gigantic 
danger full in the face ; to unite their forces and destroy 
this monster superstition — Christianity — not by a cry " to 
arms," but by Reason. 



CLERICAL EMPIRE. I4I 

The issue must be plainly made that Christianity is antag- 
onistic to our government. The Constitutional-God Chris- 
tians already concede this fully. 

We may be compelled to endure a measure of clerical 
rule before freedom will be valued as it ought ; and before 
every true, American citizen will aid in maintaining our 
institutions entirely free from clerical interference. 

Yes, let the issue be made : Either the perpetuity of the 
Republic, or the destruction of Christianity. 



VIII. 

ORIGIN, EXTENT, AND PROGRESS OF THE POLITICAL-GOD 
RECOGNITION. 

" Just God ! — and these are they 

Who minister at thine Altar, God of Right ! 
Men who their hands with prayer and blessing lay 
On Israel's Ark of light ! 

" Pilate and Herod friends 

Chief priests and rulers, as of old, combine ! 
Just God and holy ! is that church, which lends 
Strength to the spoiler, thine ? 

'■'■ How long, O Lord ! how long 

Shall such a priesthood barter truth away, 
And in thy name, for robbery and wrong 
At thy own altars pray ? " 

—yo/in G. Whittier. 

The Christian clergy have never been satisfied with our 
present form of government. It is too broad, too Uberal, too 
free ; as free as Infidels could make it. It is manifestly a 
fact that Christians had little to do with its formation. It is 
admitted by Christians themselves that at the time of the 
adoption of the National Constitution their influence was 
very feeble; but French Infidelity, as it is called, was the 
dominant element of American society. The Declaration of 
Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson and Thomas 
Paine, and our present " godless " Constitution were the 
fruits of "dangerous free thinking." Ever since the adop- 
tion of the Constitution there has been dissatisfaction with 
it among religionists. 

Rev. D. X. Junkin, D. D., one of the leading ministers of 
the Presbyterian Church, and a member of the permanent 
committee on their Board of Education, addressed a letter 



POLITICAL-GOD. I43 

to Rev. G. D. A. Hebard, Oskaloosa, Iowa, from New Castle, 
Pa., Dec. 9th, 1869, as follows : 

" To give you a history of this movement. There has been 
in our country, ever since the formation of the United States 
Constitution in 1789, a small handful of Scotch Presbyterians, 
called Reforined Presbyterians^ or more commonly Covenant- 
ers^ who objected to the Constitution because it did not dis- 
tinctly recognize God and Christ and the Christian religion. 
These people never voted nor accepted office under the Con- 
stitution; but often preached in denunciation of this omission 
in the Constitution. The present movement originated with 
these people. Observing something of a rage for amending 
the Constitution, they thought the present time favorable for 
the effort to get their favorite dogma passed. And while I 
am clear in believing that their amendment, if adopted, 
would inevitably lead to persecution and the destruction of 
the equality of citizens before the law , yet I always acquitted 
them of any intention of producing these evil results. The 
advocates [of this measure] are earnest men, but bigoted in 
the lesson of their education." 

Mr. Junkin, as well as Mr. Hebard, supposed the move- 
ment was limited. Rev. Mr. McAyeal, of Oskaloosa, Iowa, 
clearly shows that they are mistaken. He states that the 
" Reform " (?) commenced in 1863. But that was in its latest 
and present form. Says Mr. McAyeal : 

" ' This movement ' originated with a Christian Conven- 
tion made up of members of different denominations, which 
met in Xenia, Ohio, the 3d day of Feb., 1863. The first 
Convention in behalf of the movement met in Allegheny 
City, Pa., in January, 1864. Eight Christian denomina- 
tions were represented in that convention. This convention 
appointed a committee to visit Washington City and wait on 
President Lincoln to present to him the nature of the move- 
ment. When the committee arrived in Washington they 
called on Dr. Chamong, Unitarian and Chaplain of the 
Senate, who went with them and introduced them to the 
President, who received them kindly. After the presentation 
was over Mr. Lincoln said to a friend, 'These men have 
gained, during my first administration, one of the Reforms 
they have sought, the abolition of slavery. I hope they may 
get the other before my second expires.'" 



144 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

Mr. McAyeal fails to give his authority for that little 
speech by Lincoln. The clergy of the North never accepted 
the doctrine of the abolition of slavery until they were forced 
to it by public sentiment. If Lincoln ever made the remark 
which Mr. McAyeal says he did, then it proves he was not 
as well posted on that subject as John G. Whittier, Parker 
Pillsbury, Stephen S. Foster, or William Lloyd Garrison. 
Mr. McAyeal proceeds : 

" Dr. Bushwell, of Hartford, Connecticut, and Prof. Seelye, 
of Amherst, both favor it. Dr. Blanchard, of Wheaton Col- 
lege, is fully committed to it. As to Major General Howard, 
he was chosen one of the Vice Presidents of the National 
Association^ and in reply to the Corresponding Secretary he 
says : ' Your action is perfectly agreeable to me, and I hope 
that the objects of the Association may meet with success.' 
Dr. Finney, of Oberlin, also endorses it warmly. As to 
other churches the movement is widely endorsed. 

" Dr. Mcllvaine, of Princeton College, is one of the fore- 
most in the movement. Drs. Margrave, Hodge, Jocobus, 
Wilson, Post, Howard, Edwards, Bourberger, Bell, George 
Junkin, and hosts of others in the Presbyterian Church, men 
of the very first character, endorse it. Their General As- 
sembly also endorsed it by resolution some three years ago 
at its meeting in Newark, N. J. 

" Of the M. E. Church, Bishop Scott, the oldest bishop in 
the Church, concurs in it most heartily. He says : ' God 
unquestionably has a controversy with the nations which 
must prove disastrous to them until his claims are distinctly 
recognized. I wish I may find it in my power to help the 
good cause.' 

"Bishop Simpson also favors it. Also a very great many 
of the ministers have taken an active part in the conventions. 

"Their General Conference that met in Philadelphia, 
endorsed the Reform in the Report of their Committee on 
the 'State of the Country.' Of the Protestant Episcopal 
Church, their bishops and ministers generally endorse it. 
Among the foremost are Rt. Rev. F. D. Huntingdon, D. D., 
Rt. Rev. J. B. Kerfoot, D. D., Rt. Rev. Manton Eastburn, 
D. D., and others. Of the Baptist Church, their ministry 
may be said to be a unit in its favor. 

" I have a paper now lying before me with the names of so 
many Baptist ministers who favor the Reform that I can not 



POLITICAL-GOD. 145 

take time to unite them, amongst whom are the celebrated 
Rev. Geo. D. Boardman, D. D., and Rev. J. U. Smith, D D. 

" Of the Conservative Universalists a number favor it. 
Rev. Dr. Miner, of Boston, took a very active part in the 
Convention in Boston, some time since. 

" Of others belonging to various churches, we have such 
men as the following : Prof. Taylor Lewis, LL. D., of 
Union College; J. S, Hart, LL. D., of N. J.; Prof. A. N. 
Stoddard, Geo. H. Stewart, Esq., Amos A. Laurence, Esq., 
Eoston; Thos. M. Marshall, Hon. Jas. Pollock, Hon. J. W. 
McClurg, Gov. of Missouri, Hon. Jos. Allison, Hon. Jno. 
M. Kirkpatrick, Hon. T. H. Collier, Hon. Wilson McCand- 
less and Hon. Strong, President of the National Association, 
late Judge of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, and lately 
nominated by President Grant for the place of Supreme 
Judge of the U. S. made vacant by the retirement of Judge 
Grier. 

" I have thus given but a bird's-eye view of the extent to 
which this Reform has taken hold of the first minds in the 
Nation. Men of the greatest moral worth and mental 
calibre are throwing their weight in its favor. They are 
representative men. Men who know the contest now is 
"between Christian civilization and Infidel licentiousness. 

"R. A. McAyeal." 

Among the officers of the National Association, whose 
names are officially published, are several influential citizens : 

" President. — Hon. WilHam Strong, of the Supreme Court 
of Pennsylvania. 

"Vice-Presidents. — John Alexander, Esq., Hon. James 
Pollock, Hon. Chauncey M. Olds, Rev. J., H Mcllvaine. D, 
D., Rt. Rev. L. Scott, Bishop of M E. Church, Rev J. T. 
Pressy, D. D., Rev. Jonathan Edwards, D. D., President of 
Washington and Jefferson College, Gen. O. O. Howard, Rev, 
J. Blanchard, President of Wheaton College, Rev. J. H. A- 
Bomlerger, D. D. 

" Recording Secretary. — Rev. W. W. Dorr, 

"Corresponding Secretary. — Rev. T. P, Stevenson, 
Philadelphia. 

" Treasurer. — Samuel Agnew, Esq., Philadelphia." 

Among the regular contributors to the organ of the Asso- 
ciation are the following named representative men in various 

denominations : 
10 



146 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

Prof. Taylor Lewis, Union College; Prof. J. H. Seelye, 
Amherst College; Rev. J. H. Mcllvaine, College of New 
Jersey; President J. Edwards, D. D., Jefferson and Washing- 
ton College; Rev. George Junkin, D. D., Lafayette College; 
Rev. J. R. W. Sloane, N. Y.; Rev. G. C. Vincent, D. D., 
Westminster College; Rev. J. T. Cooper, D. D., Philadel- 
phia ; Rev. S. O. Wylie, Philadelphia. 

.The call for the first God-in-the-Constitution State Con- 
vention of Iowa, (1869,) was signed by more than sixty 
ministers, composed of United Presbyterians, Congregational- 
ists, Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Reformed Presby- 
terians, Church of Christ, Evangelical Lutheran, and Lu- 
theran; two editors; Superintendent Public Instruction; one 
banker; one State Treasurer; two College professors; and 
one lawyer, all of whom are men of talent, and nearly all are 
talking men, consequently exert a large influence upon the 
public mind. 

There was a convention of the citizens of Orange county, 
N. Y., held in the city of Newburg, on Wednesday, Decem- 
ber 7th, 1870, to consider the incorporation of the name of 
God in the National Constitution. The call was signed by 
thirty-five clergymen, besides doctors, lawyers, merchants 
and military men. 

On the following day the National Association of Consti- 
tutional-God Christians held a meeting. In large letters was 
announced, the "President, the Hon. William Strong, Asso- 
ciate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States." 
Among the Vice-Presidents were the names of Commissioner 
of Public Schools, Rhode Island; the Superintendents of the 
Common Schools of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New Hamp- 
shire ; Secretary of the Vermont Board of Education ; and 
the New York city Superintendent of Schools. 

In the call which these gentlemen signed, occurs the fol- 
lowing paragraph, which shows that they design to force their 
religion into not only the common schools, but every part of 
the whole government: 

" Events of the past year have demonstrated the import- 
ance of the efforts which are being made to secure the relig- 



POLITICAL-GOD. I47 

ious amendment of the Constitution of the United States. 
Assaults have been made, in many places successfully, on the 
Bible in the public schools. The civil safeguards of the 
Sabbath have been still further overturned. The evils attend- 
ing the divorce laws of some of our States have been greatly 
increased. New revelations of the depths of political cor- 
ruption in certain quarters have filled many minds with 
serious apprehensions. The Constitution is loudly claimed 
as the authoritative expression of the low, secular, or non- 
religious theory of civil society, to which the whole govern- 
ment ought to be conformed. These facts have awakened 
thousands of minds to the necessity of an acknowledgment 
of Almighty God and the Christian Religion in the funda- 
mental law of the nation. This is now seen to be necessary 
that we may have an unquestionable legal basis for Christian 
education in our public schools, and for every other Christian 
element in our government." 

The "Bible in School" question will be one of the great 
issues in the coming religious-political warfare. 

Over forty years ago the people of this country were con- 
siderably agitated by an effort on the part of the clergy, and 
their followers, to have Sunday mails stopped. A Committee 
was appointed by the United States Senate, Richard M. 
Johnson, Chairman, which made an able report against relig- 
ious interference with the affairs of the government. But the 
clergy have never yielded their project to make Christianity 
superior to the Republic. Though they are again and again 
defeated they renew their attacks upon this godless form of 
government which they hate. 

At the closing session of the Presbyterian Synod in Pough- 
keepsie, N. Y., Oct. 22, 1869, "resolutions were adopted 
urging Christians to use their influence to enforce a rigid 
observance of Sunday laws, and refuse their votes to persons 
who violate those laws." 

Should Clerical Empire become established, as it would 
be by the proposed reHgious amendment of the Constitu- 
tion, Christians only would fill the offices ; none but " saints " 
be elected to Congress ; the clerical gentlemen and their 
religion would be " congressionally sustained and supported," 



148 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

Infidels silenced, and everybody compelled to go to church 
and observe the old-fashioned puritanical Sunday. 

In a Sunday School Convention in New Concord, Ohio, 
Nov. 29, 1870, 

" The Rev. James White said people did not take high 
enough ground in opposing the desecration of the Lord's 
Day. They generally base their efforts on the fact that Sab- 
bath desecration annoys them in their devotions, whereas we 
ought to oppose it because it infringes on God's rights and 
calls down his judgments on the nation. The question is 
closely connected with the National Reform movement, for 
until the government comes to know God and honor his law, 
we need not expect to restrain Sabbath breaking corpora- 
tions. The whole influence of government to-day is rather 
against the scriptural observance of the Sabbath." 

" The Rev. James Murch, deplored the wide spread spirit 
of infidelity, under the influence of which the sacredness of 
the Sabbath is being lost even among those who take no part 
in open Sabbath desecration. The only hope was in the 
power of the Spirit of God who is promised to lift up a stand- 
ard against the enemy coming in like a flood. It is spiritual 
influence and power pre-eminently which are needed in this 
work." 

" The Rev. D. Paul said he heartily approved of what had 
been said about christian consistency. We needed to look 
well to our own lives and not put any stock in Sabbath- 
breaking railroads. He said if he owned a large tract of 
land and rented or leased it for shops and machinery to be 
carried on on the Sabbath, he would be responsible, and so 
Government, having the right of eminent doaiain over all 
its territory, is responsible for all the Sabbath-breaking done 
by incorporated bodies. These are creatures of the govern-' 
ment, and are on the lands of the government, and govern- 
ment is bound to prevent them from violating moral law." 

"The Rev. J. P. Lytle said the magistrates are bound to 
suppress Sabbath profanation, not only because its violators 
infringe upon the rights of christian people, but because they 
disobey, and dishonor God. He remarked that nearly all 
moral philosophers err in not regarding the rights of God as 
the fundamental element in morals." 

Imperialism, Clerical Empire, Despotism ! 



POLITICAL-GOD. 149 

The Christian Statesman^ Dec. 15, 1870, contains the fol- 
lowing : 

" From the Philadelphia Press of Monday, December 5 th, 
we clip the following telegram, dated Washington, December 
4th, The italics are our own: 

" ' The trains yesterday and to-day brought large accessions 
to the number of Congressmen and visitors already here, and 
by to-morrow morning it is expected that nearly every Senator 
and member will have arrived. There is already more than 
a quorum of each house, perhaps two-thirds. Speaker 
Blaine arrived last evening, and Vice-President Colfax arrived 
this morning.' 

" Thus the fact is heralded over the whole country that a 
large number of the members of the National Congress 
openly and wantonly indulge in common travel on the Sab- 
bath- The demoralizing influence of this example is fearful 
to contemplate. . And there are other reflections suggested 
by their conduct. 

" I. Not one of those men- who thus violated the Sabbath is 
fit to hold any official position in a Christian nation. God, the 
maker of all men, has expressly reserved the seventh part of 
man's time from common uses, as an acknowledgement of 
the supreme right of the Creator to dispose of the time and 
regulate the conduct of the creature. The right to use the 
Sabbath for secular purposes, no man ever had. That right 
no man can get. He who disregards this restriction shows 
that he has no regard for God, that he neither fears nor 
loves Him. And there can be no assurance that he who 
casts off the Sabbath law will respect any other restriction 
which God has placed on human conduct." 

That is rather severe on Brother Colfax who made that 
little speech to the Sunday School children at the small 
brown church in Winona, Minn. It is generally conceded 
that congressmen have no religion ; but Schuyler has. The 
Statesman continues : 

" 2. The sin of these Congressmen is a national sin, because 
the nation has not said to them in the Constitution, the 
supreme rule for our public servants, 'We charge you to 
serve us in accordance with the higher law of God.' These 
Sabbath-breaking railroads, moreover, are corporations cre- 
ated by the State and amenable to it. The State is responsible 



150 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

to God for the conduct of these creatures which it calls into 
being. It is bound therefore to restrain them from this, as 
from other crimes, and any violation of the Sabbath, by any 
corporation, should work immediate forfeiture of its charter. 
And the Constitution of the United States, with which all 
State legislation is required to be in harmony, should be of 
such character as to prevent any State from tolerating such 
infraction, of fundamental moral law. 

"3. Give us in the National Constitution the simple 
acknowledgement of the law of God as the supreme law of 
nations, and all the results indicated in this note will ulti- 
mately be secured. Let no one say that the movement does 
not contemplate sufficiently practical ends." 

There will be no doubt about the "practical ends." 
Would we not have a rule of rigor } History j^roves that 
when Christians bear rule the land mourns. 

The Governor of Vermont was anxious to recognize God. 
Says the Christian States7?ian : 

" We observe with great satisfaction that the Governor of 
Vermont in his recent proclamation appointing the seventh 
day of this month as a day of public fasting, used the follow- 
ing language : 

" ' Recognizing Him as the ' God of nations,' as well as of 
individuals, let us invoke the continued bestowal of the bless- 
ings we have hitherto enjoyed, and entreat him to avert from 
us the evils of war, pestilence, ignorance and every form of 
social vice. As children of a common Heavenly Father let 
us unite in humble confession of our manifold sins ; in earn- 
est prayer for Divine forgiveness, through Christ our Savior.' " 

In various ways it is insinuated that President Grant is 
worthy of the support of Christians. His treatment of the 
Indian and Mormon questions will be made use of to secure 
Christian sympathy and Christian votes. A few days ago 
the New York Herald said editorially : 

" Every Christian heart in America must throb kindly 
toward President Grant for his humanity and good temper 
in dealing with the wayward children of the forest. In the 
Mormon question he has trampled upon an evil as gigantic 



POLITICAL-GOD. 151 

as that of slavery — upon polygamy — which, as the remaining 
^twin relic of barbarism,' has been a scandal to our age." 

The Christian Statesman^ in its issue of November ist, 
recognizes President Grant as the tool of the religious 
denominations. It declares that his last Thanksgiving Proc- 
lamation, unless it is meaningless, " is a distinct recognition 
of the fundamental principle for which we contend against 
the secularists." So it is. What a departure from Jefferson's 
idea that government has nothing to do with religion ! save 
that all should be protected in their religious convictions. 

The movement is thus becoming popular among govern- 
mental officials. As it was in England, so it would be here. 
There, says Buckle, " illustrious nobles, some of the most 
powerful of the Protestant Church, abandoned their religion 
without compunction, sacrificing their old associations in 
favor of opinions professed by the State." 

The genius of this movement leads to precisely that result. 
Christian bodies are wheeling into line. The Re-united 
Presbyterian Synod of New Jersey, one of the largest and 
most influential Synods in the Church, at its recent session, 
passed the following paper : 

" Whereas, The Scriptures plainly teach that God is the 
ultimate source of all authority and power in civil govern- 
ment, that nations as such are the subjects of His moral gov- 
ernment, are by Him rewarded for national obedience, and 
punished for national sins, and are dependent upon Him for 
national preservation, guidance, and prosperity ; and 

"Whereas, It is the plain duty of nations, as such, to 
recognize and acknowledge their dependence upon and 
responsibility to Him, in their fundamental and organic 
law; and 

"Whereas, In the Constitution of the United States, as 
it now stands, there is no such recognition or acknowledg- 
ment ; therefore 

^'' Resolved^ That this Synod does cordially approve and 
recommend the efforts now making to amend the national 
Constitution, so that our national dependence upon God 
shall be appropriately expressed and acknowledged." 



152 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

Several of the ablest divines are preaching upon the sub- 
ject, and soliciting donations. Says the Christian Statesman 
of December 15, 1870: 

"The Rev. H. H. George, of Cincinnati, preached by- 
invitation on Thanksgiving Day in the United Presbyterian 
Church of that city, on the subject of National Religion. A 
collection was taken up for the National Association, amount- 
ing to $135 00." 

Hundreds of secular papers will be used by the men en- 
gaged in this subversion of Republican principles, to advocate 
their religious political sentiments. In one of the Christian 
Conventions Mr. Robert Speer said that long and able articles 
had appeared in the New York Tribune against the Sabbath, 
and very little had appeared on the other side. He thought 
those able to write, ought to stir themselves to defend the 
Sabbath. Mr. David Wallace urged that the Christian 
public ought to use the public papers more than they do as 
vehicles for the diffusion of sound ideas among the people. 

"Sound ideas "(!) Thus secular papers will be forced to 
take sides in this religious-political contest. 

The clergy, as a profession, are the most obtrusive, brassy 
class of people on earth. They force themselves upon Con- 
gress to pray — that is the pretence — in legislatures, in the 
armies, in political meetings,* in Medical Societies,! and 
even on the occasion of an Exhibition of a Common School. 
The aim is to make their influence felt in every avenue of 
Hfe. 

* In the report of the proceedings of the Iowa RepubHcan State 
Convention, is the following : 

" The Convention went smoothly along in the forenoon with their tem- 
porary organization, the main feature of which was a prayer by a Meth- 
odist minister named Wilson. He prayed for harmony in the radical 
ranks, that they might have at least forty thousand majority in Iowa, etc. 
His prayer was interrupted by applause, and at its conclusion, shouts and 
laughter, stamping, cries of 'bully for you,' etc., were heard for some time. 
The prayer created a sensation." 

\ In the Illinois State Eclectic Medical Society, which met in the 
Supreme Court Room, Springfield, as soon as the meeting was called tO' 
order, " Prayer was offered by the Rev. G. H. Robertson." 



POLITICAL-GOD. 153 

The New York Tribune of January 25, 187 1, contained 
the following report on the " religious amendment of the 
Constitution ": 

" A Convention of persons who are moving for an amend- 
ment to the Constitution by which God should be recognized 
as the Ruler of the Universe, and Christianity as the true 
basis of all human government, assembled in Philadelphia 
on the i8th inst., 200 delegates being present. The object 
is to develop a public sentiment in favor of the proposed 
amendment; in a word to 'agitate.' Judge Strong being 
unavoidably detained in Washington, ex-Gov. Pollock of 
Pennsylvania was appointed permanent Chairman, and the 
Rev. J. E. Smith of Connecticut, Secretary. The Business 
Committee submitted the following resolutions : 

''''Resolved^ First : That this Convention of those who aim 
to secure a religious amendment to our National Constitu- 
tion, gratefully acknowledges the good providence of God in 
the evident progress of this cause during the past year. 

^^ Seco7id: That feeling assured that, under God, all that is 
wanting for its ultimate and its early triumph is to publish 
the facts and illustrate the principles upon which it is based, 
we pledge ourselves to renewed zeal in its prosecution. 

. " Third : That this Convention renewedly calls the atten- 
tion of the American people to the facts. 

"i. That our National Constitution is devoid of any 
religious or even moral sentiment. 

"2. That in some of our treaties with foreign Govern- 
ments which are of equal authority with the Constitution 
itself, we are declared to be a nation in no sense founded 
upon the Christian religion, and not formally unlike Moham- 
medans. 

^'' Foitrth : That the Convention reiterates, with an 
increased and solemn appreciation of their importance, the 
following principles of moral and political philosophy, which 
in substance have been set forth by former conventions, viz : 
That civil government in the earth stands for right of exist- 
ence upon the same basis as the family — both being appoint- 
ments of the God of nature, morality, and of redemption ; 
and that nations, like families, are public persons with moral 
characteristics ; with rights, duties, and responsibilities. 

^'' Fifth: That the continued ignoring of God and religion 
exposes us to the guilt of formal national atheism. 

'"''Sixth: That the nation constituted by the union of the 
13 British-American colonies was a Christian nation, as is 



154 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

shown by their several colonial histories and their separate 
State Constitutions, and, therefore, it was and is no more 
than simple justice to the people to reflect their sentiments 
in the National Constitution. 

" Seventh : That in view of the controlling power of the 
Constitution in shaping State as well as national policy, it is 
of immediate importance to public morals and to social order 
to secure such an amendment as will indicate that this is a 
Christian nation, and place Christian laws, institutions, and 
usages in our Government on an undeniable legal basis in the 
fundamental law of our nation — specially those which secure 
a proper oath, and which protect society against blasphemy, 
Sabbath-breaking, and polygamy. 

" On the second day, numerous verbal amendments to the 
resolutions entangled the meeting for a time in confusing 
points of order. The exciting event was the advocacy by 
Prof. Mcllvaine of the University of Pennsylvania, of the 
following amendment to the preamble of the Constitution : 

"'We, the people of the United States, acknowledging 
Almighty God as the ultimate source of all authority and 
power in civil government, and the moral laws of the Chris- 
tian religion as of paramount authority, in order to secure a 
more perfect Union,' etc. 

" This substitute was vehemently opposed by almost all 
the speakers as ' failing to recognize the authority of the 
Lord Jesus Christ,' and was rejected by a vote almost unani- 
mous The key-note of the meeting, as thus struck by one 
of the speakers, was : 'As at present, rejecting the authority 
of God in our Constitution, we are a nation of Atheists j if 
we adopt the resolution of Dr. Mcllvaine, we become Deists; 
if we abide by the report submitted we stand before the 
world as a Christian naXion.' 

"The meeting adopted the above resolutions and thus 
maintains the platform practically ratified by the first Gen- 
eral Convention, viz : 

" We labor t secure such amendments to the Constitution 
of the United States as will suitably express our national 
recognition of Almighty God as the author of National 
Existence and the source of all power and authority in civil 
government ; of Jesus Christ as the Ruler of Nations, and of 
the Bible as the fountain of law and the supreme rule for the 
conduct of nations. " 

The Tribune also contained the followins: editorial : 



political-god. i55 

"a ray of light from the east. 

" The theologians who insist that our Government rests 
upon an implied assumption or recognition of the Divine 
authority of the Christian religion, and who seek to make 
that recognition palpable by an amendment to the Constitu- 
tion, will find a hard nut to crack in the following provision 
of the treaty of Tripoli, made under the administration of 
Washington in 1796, when the fundamental principles of the 
Government and the ideas and purposes of its founders were 
yet fresh in the minds of the people : 

"'^j- the Govei'mnent of the United States is not in any sense 
founded on the ChjHstian religion j as it has in itself no char- 
acter of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquillity of 
Musselmen (Musselmans) ; and as the said States never have 
entered into any war or act of hostility against any Moham- 
medan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext 
arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an inter- 
ruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.' 

" To this declaration which bears the stamp of the Senate's 
approval, is appended the name of George Washington, who, 
though himself a C'hristian, held that his religious faith enti- 
tled him to no privileges as a citizen that were not common 
to all others, of whatever religious belief. The declaration, 
moreover, for aught that appears, received the assent of the 
whole American people, as embodying an essential and fun- 
damental principle of the Government. It would seem to 
have been well understood at that day that, while the Gov- 
ernment was Christian in spirit, in that it recognized and 
proposed to vindicate and maintain the equal rights of men 
as set forth in the New Testament, it was at the same time 
not Christian in any theological or dogmatical sense, nor as 
conferring any special rights or privileges upon Christians as 
such. The more the subject is agitated the clearer will this 
historic fact become, and the more ready will all good citizens 
be to acquiesce in a principle which cannot be discarded 
without leading us directly and inevitably back to a union of 
Church and State. 

" The Government of the United States, while it neither 
makes nor exacts any religious profession, is yet Christian in 
spirit in proportion as it seeks to 'establish justice,' to 'pro- 
mote the general welfare,' and to 'secure the blessings of 
liberty to ourselves and our posterity;' and it is needless that 
it should be Christian in any other sense. Nay, to make it 
Christian in a dogmatic and exclusive sense would be to open 



156 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

the door to assumptions and practices incompatible with the 
growth of Humanity and the Equal Rights of the People, 
and injurious, if not fatal, to the Church itself. 

" Let those who imagine that a nation can be made Chris- 
tian by incorporating the letter of a Christian creed into its 
Constitution remember the lessons of history. The worst 
despotisms that have ever cursed the world were adminis- 
tered in the name and by the assumed authority of God. 
Even the Rebels of our Southern States, when they ' seceded ' 
from the Union, incorporated into their new Constitution, 
framed for the sustenance and perpetuation of Slavery, the 
most solemn professions of reverence for God and allegiance 
to his laws. They ostentatiously challenged the attention of 
the world on this very ground, boasting that their Constitu- 
tion was more religious than that framed by Washington and 
Franklin and Jefferson ; but no solemnity of profession, no 
ardor of boasting, could avail to hide the Atheism implied 
in the profane and audacious attempt to keep a race forever 
in bondage. Let us not, in the very hour of our rejoicing 
over the downfall of the civil authority of the Church in the 
Roman States, countenance the attempt to remove the bar- 
riers erected by our fathers against a union of Church and 
State in this Republic." 

In order to shed light from various points upon this 
question of political-God recognition, I will submit a brief 
account of the Italian Unity meeting at the Academy of 
Music in New York city, reported in the New York Tribune^ 
January 18, 187 1 : 

" Resolved^ That the doctrine of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, that ' Governments derive their just powers from 
the consent of the governed, and are instituted to secure the 
rights of all to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,' can 
admit of no exception in favor of an ecclesiastical Govern- 
ment wielding the civil power. 

" Resolved^ That the doctrine of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence that whenever any form of government becomes 
destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter 
or to abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its 
foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in 
such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their 
safety and happiness, finds in the rejection of the Papal 
Government by the Roman people, and their choice of the 



POLITICAL-GOD. 157 

free Constitutional Government of Italy, an illustration that 
should receive the warm approval and admiration of the 
American people. 

^^ Resolved^ That, inasmuch as religious liberty is absolutely 
essential to political liberty, and poHtical liberty to religious 
liberty, and the separation of Church and State is necessary 
to the complete independence and the rightful and effective 
administration of either, we rejoice that the example of the 
United States, in abolishing all religious burdens and 
restraints, has been followed in Austria, Italy, and Ireland, 
and now at last in Rome ; that we honor the jealous care with 
which the Government of Italy has guarded the personal 
liberties and rights of the Pope, and are assured that the 
substitution of freedom for force, and of popular rights for 
princely prerogatives, both State and Church will minister to 
the highest well-being of a now emancipated and united 
Nation. 

" Resolved^ That the principle of National Unity which 
the people of the United States have established at the cost 
of so much treasure and blood, which has been the aspira- 
tion of the mind of Italy as expressed in her literature from 
Dante to Alfieri and Nicolini, and in the policy of her great- 
est statesmen, from King Arduso to Victor Emanuel — a 
principle necessary to the development of the resources and 
culture of a nation in the higher civilization — gives to the 
Italian nation, of which the people of Rome are properly an 
integral part, the right to possess Rome as their capital, with 
an undivided sovereignty (a measure acquiesced in by all the 
Powers of Europe) ; and that the presence in that capital of 
an essentially hostile power, claiming independent sover- 
eignty, would be incompatible with the independence of the 
nation, and its position among the free peoples of the world." 

The following address was then read and adopted : 

"to the government and people of ITALY. 

"We, citizens of the United States, who have long stood 
as the vanguard of civil and religious freedom, and w^hose 
own unity has been within a few years so gloriously consum- 
mated, hail with a peculiar pleasure the advent of Italy to 
Freedom and Unity. Having watched with the keenest sym- 
pathy and hope the patient struggle of the Italian people for 
their emancipation, having shared the admiration of the civ- 
ilized world, for the vigor, devotion, and spirit of self-sacrifice 



158 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

by which that struggle has been animated, we now rejoice 
with them in the final fulfillment of their noble and patriotic 
desires. 

"Italy is at last free! Italy is at last one! Her Nation- 
ality is declared ; her Government consolidated ; and her 
ancient Capital, so long withheld from her grasp, is once 
more restored to her possession. The City of Rome, so dear 
to the Italian heart, no longer a rival sovereignty maintained 
alone by foreign arms, now stands the representative of the 
whole Italian people, upheld and supported by the free choice 
of the Nation. 

" In this great achievement we discern not only a solace 
for the sorrows of the past, and the fruition of many noble 
hopes, but the pledge of the grandest developments in the 
future. With the rights and the liberties of all men amply 
secured by the guarantees of a Constitutional Government ; 
with the State forever separated from the Church, as the 
essential guard of all political and religious progress ; with 
the sovereign power to control its own destinies, resting 
within its own borders, and among its own free and equal 
citizens, we are assured that the people of the Peninsula 
will receive a new and beneficent impulse in all the elements 
of national prosperity. We know from our own experience, 
how her national resources will be developed, how her indus- 
trial energies will be stimulated, how her system of popular 
education will be enlarged and perfected ; how, the need of 
revolutionary ferments being removed, order and peace will 
be everywhere established ; and how a fresh life of knowl- 
edge, of liberty, and of faith, infused into her members, 
will work out a glorious redemption." 

Italy casts off the rule of "God's servants." In America 
said servants pronounce democracy a failure. 

At this meeting Parke Godwin delivered the following 
address : 

" Within the sovereignty of Italy, within her own borders, 
at the very center of her dominion, was another sovereign, 
not only not responsible to her, but alien in its origin ; not 
only foreign in its origin, but absolute in its pretensions ; not 
only absolute in its pretensions as a proprietor and a ruler, 
but divine and inviolable in character, and asserting a supe- 
riority not over Italy only, but over the world ! 

" Italy as a nation has experienced the same influences 
precisely which the other nations of Europe experienced, 



POLITICAL-GOD. 159 

and which from age to age have lifted them out of medieval 
conditions into those of our modern civilization. Italy, 
like the other nations, has felt that warm and powerful breath 
of freedom which has loosened industry and trade from their 
icy fetters ; which has secularized politics, taking them out 
of the domain of bigotry and persecution ; which has eman- 
cipated thought and conscience ; and which is leading us all 
on to that glorious consummation, when the equal and sacred 
manhood of every child of the Universal Father shall be the 
one pervading, inspiring, organizing truth of political and 
social life. 

" Rome, on the other hand, from the necessities of her 
position as a double Government, has been hostile to all 
these hopes of larger liberty, to all these tendencies to more 
liberal forms. The political theory which, as a theocracy, 
she is compelled to adopt, is not the theory of modern thought^ 
but is entirely inconsistent with the exercise of temporal 
power, according to any of the principles adopted by mod- 
ern science, and recognized in the practice of all the 
enlightened modern nations. That theory is that God him- 
self has commissioned two powers to govern the world — the 
spiritual power and the temporal power ; the former exercised 
by the Pope and the latter by the King. But the spiritual 
power is the sun ; while the temporal power is the earth ; 
the one is the soul, the other the body; consequently the one 
is as superior to the other as the sun is to the earth, or the 
soul to the body ; and the temporal is responsible to the 
spiritual, while the spiritual is responsible only to God. 

" Accordingly the government of Rome, of all the Gov- 
ernments in the civilized world, is the most absolute and at 
the same time the most absurd. It is a government of 
priests, in which laymen have no voice and no uses. Not 
an iota of freedom exists there by right — only by concession. 
Not a solitary public press which is not controlled by its 
agents ; not a public meeting can be held without its sanc- 
tion, and not a book can be circulated, even the Bible, nor 
the common Father of all worshiped, but by its consent. 
What is worse, is that offences against this authority consti- 
tute a sacrilege ; mere sins and personal vices become heinous 
crimes, and are more often punished than crimes ; and the 
temerity which ventures to call in question the acts of the 
hierophant, who is also the judge and the executioner, is 
liable to the dungeon and the ax, as well as to hell-fire. 

"That, however, is not all. This Roman principality is 
not only an anachronism, a petty local tyranny translated 



l6o THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER 

out of the ninth into the nineteenth century, and as such a 
scourge to its immediate subjects. It is besides a theocratic 
monarchy, and as such an obstacle and a clog to the pro- 
gressive development of the whole of Italy. Representing 
a vast outside constituency, it has aims, feelings, policy, and 
principles that are wholly foreign to Italy. All its external 
relations are managed with reference to its own advance- 
ment, and not in reference to the advancement of that people 
within whose borders it subsists. Whether coalescing or 
warring with the Greek Emperors ; whether coalescing or 
warring with the Lombard kings ; whether coalescing or war- 
ring with the Frank Mayors of the Palace ; whether coales- 
cing or warring with the aristocratic republics, with the Ger- 
man Kaisers, or the English, the French, the Spanish minis- 
tries, its conduct has invariably been determined by its own 
interests of religion or ambition, and not by the interests of 
its Italian connection, Italy has often been a pawn in its 
game, it has been the shuttlecock of its blows, it has been 
the field of its battles ; but her defence, her development, her 
progress, her concentration and strength were never the end. 
On the contrary, it was always an end to defeat every move- 
ment for her consolidation and strength. Era Paolo Sarpi, 
who in the first years of the seventeenth century took the 
part of the Venetian Republic against the Pope, returning to 
his cell one night was smitten down by the hand of an assas- 
sin — smitten, but not killed. Drawing the weapon from the 
wound, he hung it upon the wall, inscribing beneath it, ' The 
Dagger of Rome.' So upon every baffled and unsuccessful 
effort of the Italian people to accomplish their national en- 
franchisement, we may also inscribe ' the dagger of Rome.' " 

But here in the United States the Clergy mourn the secu- 
larization of politics, and desire a theocracy. The theory 
of the papacy is the theory of Constitutional-God Christians — 
"God is the source of government," say both. Just such a 
"theocratic monarchy," and just such a lamentable state of 
religious oppression do these Constitutional-God Christians 
seek to impose upon Infidels, Atheists and Pagans. 

Protestants denounce the Catholic priesthood as inveterate 
foes to civil and religious liberty. Do they mean that all 
priests are enemies to liberty ? No. So wdien I say the 
"Clergy are a Source of Danger to the American Republic," 



POLITICAL-GOD. l6l 

I do not mean that there are no clergymen opposed to the 
legal establishment of God and Christianity. But such is the 
nature of Christianity itself, and the general character of its 
preachers, that logically, on Bible ground, the Jewish-Chris- 
tian-God is the source of authority in civil government. So, 
while Protestants hail such men as Father Hyacinthe and Dr. 
Dollinger as in advance of their system, so I look upon such 
Protestant ministers as Henry Ward Beecher and Rev, Dr. 
Bellows in the same light. These men are in favor of liberty 
and opposed to ecclesiastical rule. At the Italian meeting 
they took an active part. 

" ADDRESS OF H. W. BEECHER. 

" It is the opinion of the American people, with a very 
small minority to the contrary, that the government of a 
community by a class in that community without the consent 
of the great majority of the governed, is one of the worst 
governments that can befall a nation. 

" It is the opinion of this American that, of all govern- 
ments, there is no other so bad as the government of an 
ecclesiastical class. It might be presumed beforehand that 
the body of men carefully educated to moral ideas that they 
might be moral teachers, would make the best citizens not 
only, but the best rulers. Yet I must say experience has not 
borne out the theory. 

" Italy has groaned, being burdened through centuries with 
this government, and now, as part by part it has been res- 
cued, we have been all glad ; and now that at length the 
Pontifical States themselves have had an opportunity to ex- 
press themselves in regard to their masters, and have blown 
them up, we are glad of that too, not because they are Ro- 
man Catholics, and not because they are priests, but because 
they are a class government, and one of the most odious of 
all class governments. America, then, sends back to-night 
to Italy sympathy, because Italy has thrown off the despot- 
ism of the priestly class government, 

" The nation, secondly, sends sympathy to Italy because 
she is treading in those very footsteps which have brought 
us hither. Though our steps were in blood, we to tl:ke horses' 
bridle, hers scarcely above her shoe latches, yet by the same 
steps she is walking to power by which we have consolidated 
power in this country. 
II 



l62 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

"We rejoice that Italy has taken these steps, following the 
example of America, and taking with her our full sympathy, 
we send to Italy the voice of this meeting, and say we rejoice 
in the prosperous and successful issue of your endeavors to 
unite every part of the Peninsula in one solid government. 
We also sympathize with them on the simple ground that the 
Pontifical States have tired of their old ruler and want to try 
another. When we are tired of our magistrates we know 
what to do with them. We send White Thunder after them 
every election day. Ballots kill, or would do so outside of 
New York. The very expression of the will of the people 
ought to govern any community. They ought to have the 
power of determining their laws and magistrates, and when 
the Pontifical States are called to vote, and they have voted 
almost to a man that they did not want their Holy Father, it 
is time they should be set free. 

" The voice of this meeting and of America declares that 
.every people have a right to determine their laws and their 
Governor. 

" I say to the Italians to-night that we are in sympathy 
with this movement, because the Italian Government, as now 
constituted, carries with it intelligence among the common 
people, liberty of conscience and of the press and of religion. 
Now I should like to see a thousand American men who say 
they do not believe in a free press and a free conscience and 
general intelligence, and progress unrestricted except by the 
bounds of morality. Put this question to Americans : Do 
you desire to see Italy as free as America in all the great 
elements of humanity ? and there would be enough speaking 
to be heard even in an undertone in a thunder of acclama- 
tion that would go across the sea." 

" SPEECH OF REV. DR. BELLOWS. 

" We have no right as American citizens to consider the 
question as Roman Catholics or' as Protestants. Roman 
Catholicism has the same rights in America as Protestantism, 
as Judaism — no less and no more. The Roman Catholic 
Church has a right to use her utmost endeavors as an 
independent and voluntary organization, by the pulpit and 
the press, to build itself up in this country. She may claim 
the full protection of our laws, so far as they are extended 
to all other Churches. If she can persuade the people to 
adopt her creed and policy, she has a perfect right to do it. 
She has a right freely to express her opinion of Protestant- 



POLITICAL-GOD. 163 

ism and to exhibit its weakness and peril and sinfulness, to 
call it unchristian and immoral if she will, and to prove her 
words if she can. Protestantism may do the same by her, 
if she thinks it wise, and if her convictions incline and com- 
pel her to this course. Either may properly use whatever 
moral power it possesses to diminish the importance and 
influence of the other. But when either Protestants or Cath- 
olics attempt to enlist the Government or to subsidize 
National or State funds in favor of their sectarian and 
theological or ecclesiastical support, they are violating the 
spirit and the letter of our National and our State Constitu- 
tions. When a devout and excellent class of Protestant 
citizens lately proposed to have the dogma of Christ's Deity, 
so widely credited and revered by American Christians, 
made a part of the Constitution of the United States, it was 
a dangerous and anti-national attempt on the rights of con- 
science of the Jew and of some Protestant Christian sects, 
and it deserved the censure' and opposition of the American 
people, without regard to the truth or importance of the 
dogma itself. When the Catholics use their political power 
in this State as the make-weights of parties, to secure large 
appropriations from the State Government, for the support 
of Roman Catholic schools and charities, they violate the 
same principle and sow the seeds of future strifes perilous 
to our political institutions. When Protestants insist that 
the Bible shall be read in the public schools, they blindly 
encourage the Catholics to demand a ruinous secession, 
supported at the public expense from our system of common 
schools. They force religion into our politics ; they attempt 
a union between Church and State ; they unwittingly justify 
Catholics in demanding their share in the public moneys 
devoted to education. As Protestants, as Catholics, we have 
no share in those public moneys. It is only as American 
citizens that we can claimi or properly receive them. 

" It is not to be assumed that American Catholics have 
not a right to believe in the union of Church and State — 
but as American citizens they have no right to demand any 
national or political attention to their belief. Their bishops 
and archbishops may teach this union, from their ecclesiasti- 
cal chairs. American citizens cannot but hold the opinion 
as one perilous and to be met with earnest argument, even 
while it confines itself to sermons and services, to persuasion 
and logic, but when it embodies itself in political acts and 
legislation, it is unconstitutional and treasonable, and to be 



164 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

met with forcible resistance. Acted out, it is a death-blow 
struck at our civil and religious liberties. 

" Now, it is certainly natural for those who in a Church 
that ever craved and possessed in Europe union with the 
State, should hanker after it here. It is a merely historical 
fact, and affirmed without disrespect to that Church, that 
the Catholic Church is based upon theories identical with 
those which underlie monarchical political institutions. A 
hierarchy and a nobility correspond — a Pope and an Em- 
peror ; Cardinals are Princes ; Bishops, Lords ! Aristocratic 
institutions in State and Church both proceed on the theory 
— true enough in the infancy of society — that the people are 
incapable of governing themselves. America says to both, 
it may be so in Europe ; it shan't be so here. We are going 
to try it anyhow. What was true for thousands of years, 
may be true no longer ! We have a new hemisphere, and we 
are going to have a new era! W^e believe enough in 
humanity and its present advance, to risk our lives upon the 
experiment of self-government. We will bravely take all 
the uncertainties, all the waning doubts from Old World 
experience, upon our own heads. It may be dangerous, it 
may be impossible ; but we don't believe it, and at any rate 
we are going to try it. And, as it is illogical and impossible 
to have a tree State without a free Church, we propose to run 
all the risks for time and eternity connected with the divorce 
of Church and State. Each tub shall stand on its own bot- 
tom — Church and State — and both shall be free. Now, if 
our respected Roman Catholic citizens believe in only half 
our theory, we have no power and no right to enforce the 
other half upon them by any political means. For a free 
Church means a Church that shall not be forced in any way 
by the State. But a free State equally means a State that 
shall not in any way be forced by the Church. American 
citizens do not propose to allow their political institutions to 
be sacrificed to any romantic confidence in ecclesiastics of 
either a Protestant or Catholic school. We must be on the 
watch ! When, therefore, bishops and archbishops attempt 
to govern votes and to influence legislation by ecclesiastical 
considerations, we ought all to take the alarm. When any 
foreign ruler is recognized as having a power in our politics, 
it is time to look sharply into the theories and practices of 
those who uphold his right." 

Such expression evidences the extent and progress of the 
movement to make the Constitution religious, and proves 



POLITICAL-GOD. 165 

that the idea has become wide-spread among the people that 
a reHgious-poUtical conflict is inevitable. While Dr. Bellows 
and other Protestants may naturally enough incline to the 
belief that the Catholic Church is grasping for civil power, 
history shows that Protestantism, when it could have its own 
way, has been always eager, as it is in this country now, to 
control everything. So far as love of political power is con- 
cerned, there is really no difference between Catholicism and 
Protestantism — they are both Christian. 

Dr. Bellows truly observes, in reference to the clerical 
onslaught against this godless government, that " We must be 
on the watch ! " The events that have transpired, as related 
in this chapter, will lead many to exclaim, as did the reverend 
doctor — " We ought all to take the alarm ! " 

What is the cause of such expressions ? The clergy ! 
Reader, are they a Source of Danger to our beloved Ameri- 
can Republic .? 

Since 1864 I have steadily sounded the alarm from the 
public rostrum and through the press. Nearly seven years 
have gone by, and the impending danger has not become 
less. It is greater. The incredulity of Liberalists, which 
existed almost universally when I first began to deliver my 
message, is rapidly giving place to a more common sense 
view of the situation of our nation. Americans need to be 
reminded of the first principles upon which the nation was 
built. They have, in a degree, drifted away from them. 
They are sometimes dazzled with the glitter of monarchal 
magnificence and are ashamed of Republican simplicity or 
democratic plainness. The clergy foster the element of 
human nature that delights to pay homage to "kings," bows 
obsequiously to "lords," and makes manhood secondary to 
title. They deceive the people with the old pharisaical 
trick that they are better than other men, and, hence, were 
it not for their holy presence on earth mankind would speed- 
ily drift into every conceivable crime ! And the mass of the 
people believe this shallow pretence. The race would be 
far happier without the clergy. Their present attack on free 



l66 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

institutions will serve to open the eyes of even many Chris- 
tians to the real clerical character, and the injurious effects of 
the trade in which the clergy are engaged — religion. A 
human government is better for men and women than a 
divine one. Liberty, not religion, is the demand of the age. 
Let us ring he old familiar word, Liberty Freedom is 
always safe, while religion is ever dangerous to the nations. 
Such was the thoughi of those men who would not allow a 
vestige of religion in the Constitution of the United States 
of America. Freemen and free women be on the alert ! 
Keep it free and pure as now from the least taint of religion. 



IX. 



THE CLERGY AND OUR COMMON SCHOOLS. 

"• And shall we now submit to servile yoke ? 
Shall we sit still and let the galling chains 
Be riveted ? Never, never, never ! 
Against us will our children cry in scorn, 
And brand us traitors to all coming time." 

—Hudson Tzittle. 

"■ Learning to distinguish sound from significance, I have not found the moral tone 
of ministers higher than that of lawyers, their motives purer, their behavior more 
honest or their humanity more prompt and wide." " The Gospel-mill of the minis- 
ter is managed with as much injustice as the Law-mill of the other profession." 
■" Many trees of clerical planting fail." — Theodore Parker. 

The grandest institution of the United States of America 
is the Common School System. The clergy threaten to 
destroy it if their pet religion is not recognized in the school 
room. They are not content to enjoy the free exercise of 
their religion under the Constitution of the United States, 
but try to force it upon other people and other people's 
children. The clergy do not seem to comprehend the fact 
that the Common Schools are the common property of the 
people. 

To let religion loose into the school is to endanger the 
school's very existence. The school room becomes an arena 
for angry disputations of contending religious factions, 
arousing the worst passions of human nature. Many collis- 
ions have already taken place, and still religionists insist that 
their systems must have a place there. History proves that 
religion was the most relentless enemy to the peace and 
prosperity of the American colonies. Let none mistake this 
disturbing element, religion., for the spiritual and moral 



l68 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

nature. It has no more to do with either spirituality or 
morahty than has idolatry. It is no more the moral and 
spiritual than it is the intellectual and physical. Religion is 
iJie perverted maiiifestatioji of the moral and spiritual^ produc- 
ing idolatries, superstitions, sects, churches. These in turn 
cause enmity, discord, and persecution. 

In nothing has the wisdom of the framers of the Consti- 
tution been more manifest than in establishing Americai. 
government without religion ! Religionists, failing to unite 
religion with the State, have turned their attention to uniting 
it with the free school. In this they have so well succeeded 
that the schools are on the verge of destruction. 

The Bible — to be or not to be forced into our Common 
Schools — is already a bone of contention between Christians 
and Liberalists. Indeed it may be said that there are three 
great parties : Catholics, Protestants, and Liberalists, arrang- 
ed in hostile attitude each to the others. Catholics say 
they cannot conscientiously permit their children's minds ta 
become imbued with heresy. The reading of either Douay 
or King James' version of the Bible in the schools without 
note or comment is not allowable by the Catholic Church. 
If notes and comments are made by Protestant teachers they 
amount to religious instruction, but of a kind denounced by 
the Catholic Church. If there is no religious instruction in 
connection with secular, then not only the Catholics but the 
Protestants are aggrieved. Constitutional-God Christians 
concede the premises of the Catholics, namely, that Religion 
should dominate the State. Here is a prospect for a mighty 
conflict — the germ of war between Church and State. Secure 
the recognition of the Christian's God in the United States 
Constitution, and the Common School system will go to 
pieces. Each sect will establish its own school, the practical 
result of which will be that the mass of children will grow 
up in ignorance, while those who will receive a theological 
education will be sectarians — very bad material for citizens. 
Unless the Church is already dominant over the State the 
solution of the question is comparatively easy. Let this 



OUR COxMiMON SCHOOLS. i6q 

Nation, which is charged, by Christians of nearly every ilk, 
with godlessness, (its chief glory,) firmly insist upon its pre- 
rogative of educating the children of all. It is vastly more 
important that children should become intelligent citizens 
than believers in Jesus, Josh, Jehovah, or the Virgin Mary. 
The State has a right to command the time of the child to pre- 
pare it. for the duty of citizenship. " The Common School 
is not a theological, or ecclesiastical, or primarily a religious 
institution. It is a politico-educational institution, estab- 
lished primarily to qualify the American people to support 
American, Republican government. It is chiefly concerned 
to ht the people for American society, to become American 
citizens. It is certain that no people destitute of education, 
can obtain, or preserve Republican government. No great 
European nation can become a republic till its people are 
far more enlightened and accustomed to thought than now. 
Ignorance makes the people the dupes of Aristocracy. 
Without education the American people can neither vote 
right, nor preserve order, nor protect any part of their free 
nationality." 

" Our common schools are State institutions. They are 
not churches, but civil institutions. The common school is 
a creature of the State if not a part of its government. It is 
a provision for the maintenance of good government. The 
State has no more right to teach religious doctrines in its 
schools than in its legislature. A Protestant conscience in 
favor of compulsory religious service in State schools is a 
conscience for ' Church and State ' — a conscience in men, 
too, who abhor the doctrine, and everywhere else clamor 
against it ! They have gone over to the Catholic doctrine, 
the right of the State to determine religion." 

Christians have gained a controlling influence in the man- 
agement of their secular schools. They propose to make 
them sectarian. A large number of Christian ministers 
occupy the positions of County School Superintendents, 
Professors of State Educational Institutions, teachers, and a 
few have succeeded in filling the office of State Superintend- 



lyo THE clergV a source of danger. 

ent of Public Instruction. They have demonstrated their 
unfitness for such positions because of their unwearied efforts 
to pervert the Common School System, warping it to secta- 
rian aggrandizement. 

Let us view more in detail the respective positions of the 
three great contending parties to this question : Catholics 
argue that the schools managed by Protestants are essentially 
Protestant, sectarian schools; while those conducted in a 
strictly secular way are godless= Protestants claim that 
unless some form of religious instruction is imparted to the 
children, in school, their education is defective. Religious 
instruction in school is as strenuously insisted on by Protest- 
ants as by Catholics."^ Catholics and Protestants alike 
demand daily religious instruction,! not only in private, at 
home, but in public, in the school room. Protestants as well 
as Catholics are opposed to the Common School System 
unless they can make it the vehicle for inculcating religious 
ideas. J; Their motto seems to be, "No Religion, no School." 

* Religion in the School Room. — " The law of our State strictly 
prohibits from our public schools all instruction of a sectarian character, 
and it is not difficult for all to perceive the wisdom and necessity for this 
law. But so long as we have any claim to be called a Christian nation, 
it is proper at all times that the existence of God and his providential 
care of his creatures should be recognized in the school room. And 
hence the custom, which has been observed by many of our best teachers, 
of bowing the head in silence or audibly repeating the Lord's Prayei", as 
an opening or closing exercise of school, is not only no violation of law, 
but should, as I believe, receive the sanction and approval of all classes 
of community. It is the business of education not only to enlarge the 
human intellect, but it must deal largely with the affections and emotions 
of the young, watching with close attention the first appearance of pride, 
anger, deception and their kindred vices, with a view to eradicate them, 
and it must also seek to arouse in the soul a love of truth, of justice and 
every noble virtue. If this be the work of our popular system of educa- 
tion, there can be no right instruction, apart from moral or religious 
instruction, and our learning as well as our legislation should receive the 
sanction of religion, or our labor and money are expended in vain." — 
Rev. D. B. Lyon, Comity Superintejident of Schools, Fo7id Dit Lac, Wis. 

\ " We Catholics have no disposition to intrude on the rights of others. 
We wish them to enjoy their rights in all respects ; and we wish to enjoy 
ours. We want our children taught in religion from day to day." — Priest 
Thomas S. Preston, New York. 

\ " The school is far worse than worthless which, taking the child at 



OUR COMMON SCHOOLS. 17I 

It is useless to disguise the fact that the clergy have 
placed the schools in great peril The Cincinnati school 
war is but one of the many proofs of the danger amid which 
the schools exist. The reports of State Superintendents of 
Public Instruction show that the opposition by Christians, 
both Catholic and Protestant, to a purely secular education 

its most plastic age, declines to have a part in forming its religious char- 
acter." — Gerret Smithy {Pj'otestant.) 

" We hold education to be a function of the Church, not of the State ; 
and in our case we do not and will not, accept the State as educator." — 
Tablet, {Catholic organ^ Dec. 25, 1869. 

" Since our community is composed of Catholics and Protestants, and 
both have the same civil and political rights, and the Government is 
bound to respect and protect the conscience or full religious liberty of 
each, it can sustain no system of schools for both to which either the 
Catholics or Protestants may object. It must, then, either leave the 
whole question of education, as it does religion, to the voluntary principle, 
or it must divide the schools, as is done in most European nations, into 
two classes, the one for the Catholics and the other for the Protestants, 
with the education in each under the supervision and control of its re- 
spective religious authority. Nothing else than either the one or the 
other will secure to Catholics their equal rights and satisfy the Catholic 
conscience." — Tablet. 

" People, everywhere in our country, should be left as free to have such 
a school as they wish as such a church as they wish ; and the means for 
sustaining the one should be as purely voluntary contributions as the 
means for sustaining the other. 

" It is said that the school will fall if the Bible is allowed to remain in 
it. Then let it fall. However great might be this loss, it, nevertheless, 
can be better afforded than can the insulting of God by singling out this 
book, and this only, for expulsion from the school. But must not our 
children be educated ? Not in a school which proscribes the Bible. 
Civil Government should be allowed no power or part in the school in 
which they are educated." — Gerret Smith. 

" In order to preserve it, (the Common School,) and remove all objec- 
tions of the Romanists, we should give up the Bible, and all religious 
instruction, and be content to teach the children reading, writing and 
arithmetic, leaving religion to the family and the Sunday School. 

" One cannot help being amused at the simplicity of these good friends, 
who have all arrived at the years of discretion, we believe. 

" Our Common School system has been glorified as a wondrous Ameri- 
can invention, the culmination of all wisdom, and a thing final and fixed. 
Surface writers and talkers have written and harangued in this strain till, 
they have got to believe their own story. It has knocked their minds 
into hopeless confusion to find that ' our glorious Common School system' 
is only on its trial, that it is not a consumation or a fixture by any means, 
and has to stand on its defence. 

" That the whole relation of the State and the Church, in reference to 
education, has only begun to be adjusted as an entirely new question 
among us, is clear to all who use their eyes." — American Churchmaft^ 
{Episcopalian,) Chicago, Dec. 16, 1869. 



172 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

is widespread. Many Superintendents favor the union of 
religious with secular instruction. Among those who oppose 
it is Hon. Mark H. Dunnel, Minnesota State Superintend- 
ent of Public Instruction, one of the most experienced edu- 
cators in the country.* 

*^ From the Report of Mr. Dunnel for 1869, I select the following 
extracts : 

" I do not hesitate to assert that our Common Schools should have the 
warm sympathy and cordial support of every citizen ; that no person, 
institvition or corporation, civil or religious, should stand in the way of 
their full development or withhold support ; that religious organizations 
have no right to attempt a change in the essentially secular character of 
these schools ; that religious dogmas or the propagation of faiths have no 
place in them ; that the elements of learning, and a practical education, 
with instruction in our national history and the principles of our civil 
government, should aione characterize our public schools, and that they 
should be so taught and governed that our youth therein may, through 
intellectual and moral training, grow up into honorable manhood and 
womanhood. 

" I cannot sympathize with those who would make these schools a 
means for the propagation of a faith, or the support of a church ; nor 
with those who by an appeal to law and force of majorities, or any custom 
however hoary, would do violence to the rights of conscience. The man- 
agement of our schools should be as liberal as the genius of our general 
government, or the provisions of our State constitution. How to secure 
the attendance of every person who should be in the schools, is more rad- 
ically important than the question, whether the Bible be or be not used 
therein. The system of free education in America had its original adop- 
tion, and has had its more recent expansion, upon the conviction that 
general education and intelligence were essential to our political institu- 
tions." 

Speaking of Common Schools, he says: 

" They are established and fostered by Federal and State aid, in the 
interest of general intelligence. Republican institutions or governments 
require it Our general and local governments admit its necessity, and 
make provisions for it. It would not be a difficult task to show how 
much these schools have done for America, how much in importance 
they surpass any other element of national prosperity. They are placed 
at every corner, that ignorance be expelled, and its attendant evils be 
averted. 

********* 

" American statesmanship never achieved a sublimer triumph than 
when it secured the priceless boon of free education to every American 
youth, and thus made such ample provisions against the evils of ignorance, 
and opened up to all the pathway of intelligence and virtue. This public 
educational policy of the United States is without a parallel in the world 

" Deadly hostile to the public weal is the head, or heart, or hand that 
would lessen the strength of this support to our free institutions. Subtle, 



OUR COMMON SCHOOLS. 1 73 

There are localities where, in addition to the intellectual 
and moral qualifications which are essential in a teacher, 
the soundness or unsoundness of religious belief, according 
to Christian standard, is made the test whereby a candidate 
for the position of teacher is accepted or rejected. Teach- 
ers have been warned that unless they read the Bible daily 

indeed, must be the enemy that would withdraw one single element of its 
majestic strength. 

" Our Common Schools are not established in the interest of any 
religious organization, or indeed in the interest of religion. They have 
nothing to do with religious faiths, creeds or doctrines of any kind. 
They are wholly secular, and for the intellectual training of the youth of 
the State. This is their grand and single mission, and to it they should 
steadily advance. These schools cannot be used for the perpetuation of 
the Protestant, the Catholic, or any other church. They are not organized 
to aid or injure either. They have no war to wage on either, and should 
never inaugurate one. They may be taught, as they are, by Protestant 
and Catholic teachers, alike. They may, and do, have each class of 
officers, both district and county. There is no law to allow or forbid the 
reading of either version of the Holy Scriptures in them. The personal 
religious views of one teacher should be respected as much as those of 
the other. The teacher, however, reading from either version, the English 
or Douay, has no right to make note or comment upon it. Each teacher 
should have the same rights and be held to the same restrictions. Our 
Common Schools are too fundamentally important in our social and polit- 
ical organizations, to suffer defeat from their friends, or their enemies. 
The false positions of each should be exposed and abandoned. Patriot- 
ism calls for this. 

" I have deemed school attendance paramount in importance to a read- 
ing of any version of the Bible, if that should be in the way of it. Our 
youth need education, and they should acquire it in the public school. 

" Government has an interest in its future citizens, and has a right to 
make provision for their culture, and, indeed, has the right to compel its 
acquisition. The family, the church, and other distinguishing religious 
organizations and agencies, may claim a large share of the child's time in 
the culture of its heart, affections and religious faith ; but the government 
has rights, for its own existence rests in the correct training of these em- 
bryo citizens. For all it may know, the cloister will sow the seeds of dis- 
loyalty and death. The unequaled liberties of our government, its con- 
stitutional guarantees that every citizen may worship God according to 
the dictates of his own conscience, its broad and generous freedom, ren- 
der each and every attempt to overthrow its elementary schools an act of 
unspeakable ingratitude. The diversities in religious faith, the conflicting 
opinions of men in matters of essentials, and the many nationahties found 
to exist in this country, should be no barrier to the maintenance of our 
system of education. If each faith and nationality must have its schools, 
a homogeneous people can never exist. Religious faith and not mental 
growth is the object of solicitude, and is indeed the grand purpose of the 
sectarian school." 



174 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

in school they would lose their situations.* In some in- 
stances corporeal punishment was threatened by Protestant 
teachers of Catholic children, if the children did not bring 
New Testaments to read. The parents told their children 
that if they did read they would punish them.f This was 
placing the innocents between two fires. Women have en- 
gaged in this warfare of enforcing the reading of the Bible 
in the State Schools. 

The following article was a contribution from my pen to 
the Crucible^ a liberal paper published in Baltimore, and 
copied into other liberal papers : 

ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN OUTRAGE AGAINST A SPIRITUALIST 
SCHOOL TEACHER IN ALLEGAN, MICHIGAN. 

In my former articles this was alluded to — a teacher per- 
secuted because of her Spiritual belief. The Protestants 
conduct themselves as if they owned the schools, and all the 
United States besides. Miss Emma Holton attended' my 

* " The question of reading the Bible in the schools, has at last been 
brought up in this State. According to the papers, an Examiner in one 
of the counties instructed his teachers to read the Bible daily in school, on 
pain of having their licenses revoked. The State Superintendent was 
appealed to, who decided that the State law makes the reading of the 
Scriptures optional, and while it holds that the Bible shall not be excluded, 
a teacher cannot be compelled to employ it. It is thought that a case may 
yet be made up for the courts." — Laporte, {Ind) Herald. 

Miss Nellie A. Gray, of Lake City, Minn., has taught school where the 
question of Bible-reading has been discussed as a qualification for a school 
teacher. She refuses to read the book, being fully persuaded in her own 
mind that it is improper to be read to children ; moreover, as a Liberalist, 
she can not conscientiously observe the custom. Doubtless many excellent 
teachers will be thrown out of employment, although this has not been 
her fate thus far. 

f Four miles south-east of St. Anthony, Minn., is a Catholic neighbor- 
hood. "The teacher wanted the children to bring Testaments next morn- 
ing and read. They did not do so. The following morning they also 
came without them. The teacher told them they must bring Testaments 
or she would whip them. The parents said if they did read the Testament 
they would punish them. The parents appealed to the County Superin- 
tendent, Mr. Baker, who ruled the Bible out of school. He met the 
question firmly and saved the children punishment. Prof. Campbell said, 
in a discussion on this subject, that the Bible would yet be used as a text- 
book, as we use the grammar, arithmetic etc." — E. W. B. Harvey, Prin- 
cit>al of Public School, St. Aiithony. 



OUR COMMON SCHOOLS. 1 75 

course of lectures ; that, and being a Spiritualist, was her 
only offence. In the eyes of orthodox Christians, it is enough 
to condemn her. 

I suggested to Mr. Otis L. Holton, the young lady's father, 
to procure a copy of the petition, together with the signa- 
tures appended. The following is the Christian document : 
" To the Directors and Board of Trustees : — 
" We, the undersigned, do earnestly protest against your 
continuing as teacher of our children, one of avowed Infidel 
sentiments. 

Mrs. Sailor. Mrs. Loveless. 

" Born. " Helen Williams. 

" Bond. " H. Higinbotham. 

" Jackson. " J. M. WilHams. 

" Albert Cook. " M. Cook. 

" Baker. " A. T. Howe. 

" M. A. Green. " L. E. Martin. 

" S. Bullard. " Esther Pierce." 

Mrs. Sailor, whose name led all the rest, is the wife of Rev. 
John Sailor, pastor of the Presbyterian Church, of Allegan. 
She endeavored to screen her husband from any responsi- 
bility, as will be seen by the following note addressed to the 
Board : 

" Gentlemen : — The mothers alone have been consulted ; 
the gentlemen can speak for themselves. My own husband 
is entirely ignorant of the matter. I am alone responsible 
for the active part I have taken. I felt it my duty. If the 
Lord be God, follow Him, if Baal, serve him. 

"Mrs. M. B. Sailor. 

"Allegan, April 7th, 1871." 

I have taken special steps to ascertain if the Rev. John 
Sailor is as innocent as his wife was anxious to have it appear. 
Mr, Holton writes me these words : 

" I find that Mr. Sailor did some time previous to the pro- 
test (by the Christian mothers) speak to one of the Board 
something to the effect that he did not think it advisable to 
have Miss Holton teach any longer. When asked his reason, 



176 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

he replied, ' Because she is a Spiritualist.' The next inquiry 
was, had that anything to do with qualifying a teacher.^ The 
subject was talked before the Board, and the charge decided 
not worthy of notice. 

"Yours, O. L. HoLTON." 

From that it appears the reverend gentleman was the prime 
mover of this contemptible piece of Christian persecution, 
and then tries to conceal himself behind a few women — an 
average specimen of clerical courage. " My own husband is 
entirely ignorant of the matter." How it must have aston- 
ished that amiable man when he first learned of the public 
protest of his spouse and fifteen other godly mothers in 
Israel. 

But this is not all of the protest against one of '' avowed 
Infidel sentiments." Rev Mrs. Sailor may have concluded 
that the Board might misconstrue her motives, so she makes 
a third and final attempt to enlighten them as follows : 

" Gentlemen : — I wish you to fully understand my motives 
in bringing this before you. In talking with me of you [this 
part of the sentence is obscure.] I supposed there was to 
be a change, so sent my child with the others; but, finding 
no action on your part, thought I would see if I stood alone 
in this matter; but I find nearly all surprised that Miss 
Holton should have been placed in so responsible a position, 
next to parents' is the teacher's influence. She has already 
been quoted to a mother (when her son asked permission to 
attend the lecture,) 'My teacher goes.' All we ask is, give 
us a teacher who believes in the Bible^ the Savior and God. 
This is what is required in taking the oaths of State, and 
should we depart from our sacred rights and go back to 
infidelity ? This is the first case I have known in any of our 
Union schools, and let it be the last. Only three that I 
called on refused their names, and two of them sympathized 
with us. Some think in addition to the above, she is too 
young for the situation. We all regard her as a young lady 
of good character and many amiable qualities, our only regret 
is that her life should be thus blighted ; as mothers we love 
her, but we love our children's souls more and must be true 
to our belief." 



OUR COMMON SCHOOLS. 177 

This is the whole of the precious Christian document. 
Its author stated the true objection in the first paragraph. 
Miss Holton differs from these Christians in her rehgious 
opinions ; she is not a Christian. That is enough in the 
estimation of those sixteen pious ladies to blight her life, so 
far as they have power to do it. In the explanations con- 
tained in the second and third paragraphs it is rendered still 
more clear- that Miss Holton is guilty of nothing that even 
orthodox heresy-hunters could bring against her, except her 
religious convictions. Not a word against her as a teacher. 
She ranks as one of the best and most successful teachers in 
the State. Her scholars highly esteem her. By nature and 
culture she is admirably fitted to be a teacher of youth ; but 
she does not believe in the Bible, the Savior and God — 
according to evangelical Christianity; consequently the 
"followers of Jesus " punish her Jo the extent of their power 
— which must be acknowledged is great in the common 
schools of this country. Take away her means of support, 
starve her ! O ! ye Christians, call her infidel in the presence 
of your children ; embitter their young minds against her, 
though naturally they love their pleasant, lady-like instruct- 
ress ; instill into their minds one of the cardinal elements of 
the Christian religion — hatred against fellow beings for 
"Christ's sake." 

Miss Holton's sixteen pious judges acknowledged that they 
all regarded her to be a young lady of good character and 
many amiable qualities. But all these excellent qualities go 
for nothing, inasmuch as she does not believe in their peculiar 
religious notions. 

The charge that Miss Holton is too young is without foun- 
dation. She was eighteen years old last September. Eighteen 
years of age for a school teacher, is the legal age in Michigan. 

Mrs. Sailor shows her ignorance of law when she says that 

belief in the Bible, the Savior and God is required in taking 

the oaths of State, though it must be confessed that political 

affairs are rapidly assuming that religious phase. Let the 

12 



178 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

Christian's God be recognized in the Constitution, and, then, 
high carnival for Christian bigotry. 

Already has the conflict assumed a political complexion. 
Documents are circulated among ministers for the purpose of 
inducing them to use their influence over their congregations 
in favor of Bible-reading in school.* They are appealed to, 
not as citizens but as "ministers of the gospel." 

The clergy have virtual possession of the common school 
system. This fact will be more clearly perceived as the con- 
flict between the Secularists and the "Friends of the Bible '" 
increases in fierceness. Protestants like Jesuits, feel great 
solicitude about the religious education of children. Let 
the State insist upon its prerogative of compulsory secular 
education, as it no doubt will, then we shall witness the pious 
wrath of Catholics and Protestants, deprived of the surest 
method of securing converts — the early religious instruction 
of children.! Teach the child to reverence the Bible as the 

* Were it necessary I could produce voluminous documentary evidences 
of the truth of this statement. One document is sufficient, a copy of a 
circular letter addressed to clergymen : 

SPECIMEN CAMPAIGN DOCUMENT. 

Cincinnati, March 16, 1870. 



Rev. 

Dear Sir.' — The friends of the Bible in our Public Schools are now 
earnestly and systematically working to secure the no?nmaiiomnd election 
(at the ensuing election, to be held April 4th) of such men as will, without 
doubt, sustain our Public School System and thus defeat the plans of the 
enemies of the Bible, and those w^ho are seeking to overthrow our educa- 
tional system, morality, and good government. To this end we appeal to 
you as a Minister of the Gospel, and earnestly and respectfully solicit your 
prompt and hearty co-operation in this effort, and through you the co-ope- 
ration of the members of your congregation. We desire you, at the 
earliest possible time, to lay this subject fully before your congregation, 
and to urge upon them their duty, and the necessity of each one and all— 
the friends of the Bible and Common Schools — laboring earnestly and 
making every effort to secure the nomination and election of the right 
men to represent them in the Board of Education. 

Wm. Clendenin, Hugh McBirney 

Secretary. Chairman of Committee. 

f *' The great practical question before us is, how to convert children 
in early life, and how to do it on such a scale that a majority of the people, 
if not all, shall be truly regenerated, and so we become a Christian 
Nation " 

" The whole subject of theology ought to be restudied with reference to 



OUR COMMON SCHOOLS. 1 79 

best book, the fountain of law, and it will be a comparatively 
easy task for Constitutional-God Christians to accomplish, 
within a generation, the recognition of its supposed author, 
God, in the fundamental law of the land. The surest stroke 
of policy by which to make this a Christian nation is to 
imbue the minds of children with the notions of the priest- 
hood. Look where we will, and Christians are discovered 
forcing their religious dogmas, by all the power they have, 
into educational institutions. There are but few select 
schools that could exist without pandering to this fanatical 
zeal for religious instruction.* Even State institutions are 
perverted to some form of Christian instruction.! In teach- 
ers' associations the Bible-in-school question is often very 
warmly discussed. J And many clergymen have not hesitated 

preaching to children and their early conversion. It is a profound study, 
especially as it touches the question of native depravity, what it is, and 
what conviction of sin a child needs, and how to produce it." — Edward 
Beecher, D. Z>., N. V. Independent, lune 22, 1871. 

* A case in point : A select school was opened in Mankato, Minn., 
on the 20th of September, 1870, designed to be developed into a college. 
The managers in their circular say their " object and desire is to benefit 
the rising generation by bringing to them the facilities for a thorough 
education, not only in the Arts, Sciences, and Languages, but also in the 
Book of Books — the Bible — believing that in the development of the moral 
nature of man is found his highest happiness, his best qualification for a 
citizen, his most reliable security in his liberties, and his surest prepara- 
tion in the world to come." The Bible is mentioned as the sixth in course 
of study, for the six terms enumerated — Bible, Bible, Bible, Bible, Bible, 
Bible. One would almost imagine it a first-class burlesque on this folly of 
Bible-reading in the schools, if not assured of the author's sincerity. 

f The First State Normal School, Winona, Minn., has every appear- 
ance of being a theological school. Bible-reading and Prayer constitute 
a large share of the exercises. William F. Phelps, its gentlemanly Prin- 
cipal, is a skillful instructor. Doubtless he believes a Christian education 
is the basis of sound principles, and conscientiously carries his convictions 
into practical operation. 

X On Thursday, August 31st, 1871, at the Eleventh Annual Meeting of 
the Minnesota State Teachers' Association, held in Winona, one subject 



l8o THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

to avow their confidence in musketry to keep the Bible in 
school, in spite of those who believe in divorcing common 
school education from religious instruction. "^ 

Protestants, generally, have failed to perceive the injustice 
of their demand, that their religious text book should be 
read to the exclusion of all other religious text books. If 
the Bible of one body of religionists must be read in school, 
the Bibles of other religionists should also be read. To this 
arrangement Protestants would object as emphatically as the 
Catholics now oppose the reading to Catholic children of 
King James' version. Both of these Christian bodies have 
failed to apprehend the direct object of public schools, 
established by the State. What is it ? Secu/ar education ! 
So far as the common school is concerned it has nothing 
whatever to do with any other world than this. 

discussed was, " The place and measure of Religious Instruction in a 
system of Public Schools." Its agitation produced considerable excite- 
ment. 

* Rev. A. D. Mayo, of Ohio, in a public speech, in Cincinnati, said, 
" If these men cannot take warning, and will not understand the deliber- 
ate judgment of the American people, they must go on and learn the lesson 
in the way themselves may choose. They may put out the Bible to-day 
from the schools of this or that community, but it Mali come back with 
thirty millions of people as its body-guard. They may silence the chil- 
dren's hymn of praise to God to-day, but the hymn will be taken up by the 
voice of ' a multitude that no man can number,' and the people will sing 
Old Hundred over their political graves." — Rev. Dr. Alayo. 

By the phrase " American people," he really meant Protestant Chris- 
tians. He reckons upon a heavy majority, " thirty millions." The Rev. 
Dr. continues : 

" The vast majority of the people who best understand and are the 
reliable support of American institutions are determined that the Bible 
shall not be expelled froiii the public school!' 

" This Republic is not an atheistic or socialistic Utopia, but is a practi- 
cal government, made by practical men, who believe in Almighty God, 
who have the wisdom to maintain, and if need be, the strong arms to de- 
fend it. We sent 500,000 soldiers to heaven, and sunk uncounted millions 
of dollars in the sea to defend American civilization from an aristocracy 
proclaiming the divine right of human slavery. And, if need be, we have 
a million more young men and the rest of our property to protect our 
civilization against that anarchy which begins with rebellion against 
Almighty God." — Rev. Dr. Mayo. 



OUR COMMON SCHOOLS. l8l 

Shall the State be hindered by religious factions in the 
enforcement of a purely secular education ? Intelligence is 
the corner stone of democratic government. The State 
demands intelligence as a guarantee of its own existence. 
The free, common schools are its chosen instrumentalities 
by which to secure it. They are for the benefit of all in the 
same way that our government is for the greatest good to the 
greatest number. The State has no business to show par- 
tiality to any religion. It is not a religious institution, and 
cannot provide for any form of religious instruction. Secular 
education is a political necessity. If the State has not the 
right to establish free schools, then it has no right to secure 
such intelligence as shall enable its citizens to manage their 
own government. Republican governments must have an 
intelligent common people. If there be any form of religion 
that cannot exist within a government which allows perfect 
religious freedom to all, that religion is doomed to die. It 
is fully time that the portion of the American people who 
are not blinded by religious prejudice should arise in their 
majesty and declare that the' common school shall be 
maintained free and independent of all religio7ts, as our 
government has been for nearly a hundred years. The enemy 
of secular education is a foe to a purely secular government. 

The Catholic countries of Europe show the mischievous 
effects of combining secular and religious instruction. The 
Protestants of this country are ready to fall into the same 
error. They insist upon making the common school tribu- 
tary to their churches. When Protestants urge the reading 
o.f their version of the Bible in school; or the reciting of a 
Protestant catechism ; or the singing of a Protestant hymn ; 
or the repeating of a Protestant prayer, they furnish Catholics 
sufficient reason for opposition. The course pursued by 
Protestants in this matter is inconsistent with liberty of con- 
science. They would be quick enough to see the injustice 
if the majority should, by and by, put the school under 
Roman Catholic control, and insist upon Protestant children 
attending mass, reading the Douay version of the Bible, 



162 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

reciting the Catholic catechism, addressing prayers to tlie 
Virgin Mary, counting beads and crossing themselves. 

If Protestants force their Bible upon the children, the time 
may come when the Catholics will return the compliment 
with compound interest. The only safety for the common 
school, let me repeat, is to wholly divorce it from all connec- 
tion with religious teachings or worship. This, I know is 
blasphemy, orthodoxically considered. People need less 
religion and more every-day good sense. 

The foregoing portion of this chapter was, in the main, 
written the latter part of i86q. In January, 1872, 1 published 
it almost entire in the Present Age^ Chicago. Liberalists in 
the meantime manifest a growing dissatisfaction at the 
insolent encroachments of religionists upon our secular 
institutions. The "friends of the Bible," as they style them- 
selves, declare they will not submit to insult by having 
"God's word " excluded from the common schools. Many 
of them say, " Better destroy the schools than make them 
godless by shutting out the Bible." 

January 31 and February i, the Eighth General Conven- 
tion to secure the Religious Amendment, assembled in Cin- 
cinnati. The General Secretary of the National Association, 
Rev. D. McAllister, in the opening address, " The Aims and 
Methods of the Movement," said: 

" This very city where we are met was the scene, not very 
long ago, of the most determined efforts to expel the Bible 
from our common schools." 

" Avowed atheists and infidels, communists and papists, 
uniting like Herod and Pilate, have been plotting and work- 
ing for years to expel religion from our schools." 

" These attacks, begun long ago, have been assuming a 
more bitter and formidable character within the last few 
years." 

Judge Hagan, the President of the Convention, advocated 
Bible-reading in the common-schools, at the "common 
expense." John Alexander wrote to the Secretary of the 
Convention that. 



OUR COMMON SCHOOLS. 1 83 

"We are now entering upon a period in the question when 
infidel and atheistical assaults are, and will be made, and 
must be met. We trust tiie coming conflict will arouse from 
apathy the Christianity and patriotism of the land, and bring 
to our aid that increased co-operation and activity which we 
so much need, and which our antecedents as a Christian 
nation warrant us to expect." 

In another portion of his letter he said, " I have enlisted 
for the wai-y 

The Rev. Dr. Mayo made a wild, fanciful speech to the 
effect that if there is to be no religious education there could 
1)6 no education at all. He was so anxious to include every- 
thing valuable under the term 'religion,' in order to secure 
an acceptance for Bible, Church and dogma, that he embraced 
every "axiom of pure mathematics," "every law of scientific 
investigation," "literature," "mental and moral philosophy," 
"political economy," "industrial science, and the fine arts," 
"object lessons," all in the name of religion ! and argued 
that the " Secularists " aimed to banish these from the school, 
because they object to religious teaching! It is the Bible, 
and the religion of the Protestant, Catholic, Pagan, to the 
exclusion of other religions, that the Secularists object to. 
If it is proper to teach one phase of religion it is equally so 
to teach all kinds. But it is impracticable to teach all. If 
they could be taught it would be unjust to tax the anti- 
religionist to support them, as it would be to compel one 
religionist to pay for the propagation of a form that he dis- 
believes. 

The bigotry of this Unitarian minister crops out in the 
following sentence : 

" Give us a body of trained, reasonable, religious men and 
women in the school-houses, and there is no danger that the 
opportunities of moral and religious instruction will be 
abused; and any other kind of teacher is a public nuisance 
that should be abated without benefit of clergy." 

That means if a teacher is an Infidel, a Free Religionist, 



Io4 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

or a Spiritualist, he or she should be " abated " as a " public 
nuisance." That is the freedom the clergy propose to allow 
those who will not worship their God ! 

It is the Bible that this reverend gentleman wishes to have 
kept in the school-room, instead of simple morality. He 
says: 

" To teach morals in America without reference to the Bible, 
is like teaching the English language without the dictionary." 

And again : 

" The Bible should be placed in every public school-room 
as the text-book of American morality." 

Specimens of Bible morality will be given in a subsequent, 
chapter. Says Dr. Mayo: 

" There are three classes of people that want to put the 
Bible out of the school. First, that class of the Christian 
priesthood and their followers which desire to teach sectarian 
religion to youth at public expense." 

When the Catholic offers to put Protestant logic into prac- 
tical operation by teaching religion in school, Protestants 
spurn the religion. So it is a particular kind of religion 
which they demand shall be taught. If they can object tO' 
the Catholic religion on the ground of sectarianism, the 
Atheist can object to the Protestant religion because it is 
sectarian. Protestants are handHng two-edged tools. 

The ideas of the Liberalist class and the Catholic class, 
says Mr. Mayo, "we are not bound to respect "! That is 
plainly discernible. 

The argument which will admit the Christian Scriptures 
and religion into oiir common schools, will also admit the 
Scriptures and religion of the Hindoos ; or the Bible and 
religion of any sect. 

" A German Secularist lands on our shores. After a proper 
time he seeks. to be invested with the rights of citizenship. 
The American Constitution is held out to him as the funda- 



OUR COMMON SCHOOLS, 1 85 

mental bond of our political union. He finds in it no 
recognition of a God in whom he does not believe, or of a 
law whose authority he denies. He assents to it and becomes 
a citizen. A school tax is levied on his property. He pays 
it, and then demands that the reading of the Bible cease in 
the schools. 'It was,' he says, 'no part of the compact by 
which I became a citizen that I should be taxed to maintain 
public instruction in the Christian Scriptures.' " 

At the time of the Cincinnati "Bible-in-School" war, the 
New York Independent said : 

" The American people who have no theology in their gov- 
ernments. State or National, who have consented to live 
together as citizens under a common civil polity, without any 
reference to their sectarian differences, and, indeed, without 
any i-eference to religion at ail, are simply true to the essential 
principles of their political covenants and life in dispensing 
with religion in their State schools whether in the form of 
teaching or of worship. Fact it is that neither Christianity 
nor any other religion is part of the law in this land, and this 
fact constitutes an unanswerable argument why the State 
cannot perform the functions of a religious teacher. The 
truth is, it has no religion to teach." 

Rev. T. P. Stevenson, Secretary of the National Christian 
Association prays that the question may not be solved with 
"tears and blood." 

For several years, by voice and pen, I have warned the 
people to avoid a bloody issue in this country. If the meas- 
ures of the "Friends of the Bible," Bible-God and Bible- 
religion are forced upon the non-religious portion of American 
citizens a religious war is inevitable. 

The If^is/i World of May 4th, 1872, contains this para- 
graph : 

" Godless Schools. — The editor of this paper has been 
directly solicited by venerable bishops and zealous priests to 
open on the school question. But long before either bishop 
or priest broached the subject to us, our own conscience 
appealed to us to assert the right, as well as the duty of 
Catholics to establish schools all over the land, where God 
shall be recognized, and to make war — openly and above 



l86 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

board — against the godless schools, where God is unknown, 
and his Church is studiously ignored. 

" Now what we are trying to get at is this : That there can 
be no sound system of education which does not accept the 
truths of the Catholic faith as a foundation, and Catholic 
morals as the guide of life. All history testifies to this fact. 
All history declares that the denial of the Catholic principle 
in education, throws the world back into heathenism." 

Hon. Warren Chase of St. Louis, one of the editors of the 
Batvfier of Lights Boston, concerning this says : 

" THE WAR ON THE SCHOOLS PROCLALMED. 

" The Irish World of May 4th comes out boldly with its 
declaration, which amounts to ' war to the knife, and knife 
to the hilt,' as we have long anticipated on this all-important 
subject. It is evident, and long has been to us, that there 
must be a final conflict between Catholicism and intelligence 
as derived from our public schools and the academies and 
colleges growing out of them, and that one or the other must 
give up and perish," 

" The war will be a bitter one. One school-house and 
three private houses of its friends have already been recently 
burned, in a strong Catholic neighborhood of our city of St. 
Louis, and near a Jesuit school, as is supposed by many of 
the citizens, by the incendiary torch, lighted by those w4io 
had been pressed to acts of violence by the prayers and 
preaching of the Jesuit priests and teachers. We are sorry 
to see the feeling that is aroused by these events, for whether 
they are guilty or not, it will sooner or later lead to revenge, 
which may be even more deplorable than the casualty that 
caused it, as the innocent are almost certain to be the princi- 
pal sufferers." 

And, as if the Protestants are bent, in their religious fury, 
to rush the schools to ruin, rather than yield any of the 
power they have gained, they are determined the Bible shall 
remain as a bone of contention. 

At the New York M. E. General Conference, May 21, 
1872, the telegraph reports that, 

" The Committee on Education presented a report which, 
after referring to the assault of the Romanists on common 



OUR COMMON SCHOOLS. 1 87 

schools, concludes with resolutions to oppose to the utmost 
the exclusion of the Bible from the public schools. After 
some discussion the report was referred." 

That is the spirit, "oppose to the utmost;" the same spirit 
that led on Christian against Christian in religious bloody 
wars. And some apathetic Liberalists say, while these clouds 
of a religious war are gatherir.g thicker and faster, " There 
is no danger." 



X. 



THE BIBLE, OR THE GODLESS CONSTITUTION OF THE 
UNITED STATES ? 

"From portions of this 'infallible revelation,' the Roman 
Church logically derives its despotic and hideous claim to 
bind and loose on earth, to honor dead men with sainthood, 
or to rack and burn with all the engines mechanic fancy can 
invent, or priestly cruelty apply; and hereafter to bless 
eternally, or else forever damn." — Theodore Parker. 

"Every sentence of the Bible is from God." — Bishop 

Horsley. 

" It is enough for us to know that every writer of the Old 
Testament was inspired, and that the whole history it con- 
tains, without any exception or reservation, is true." — Horne's 
Introduction to the Bible. 

" The Bible is the summit of human literature. It con- 
tains the noblest philosophy ever yet proclaimed to man. It 
inculcates the loftiest piety and the most rational and practi- 
cal morality of all religious books. It exhibits the most 
exalted types of character that have appeared in earthly 
affairs. It gives the best account yet given of the highest 
relations and duties of man in time and eternity." — Rev. A. 
D. Mayo. 

" The Constitution of the United States is most thoroughly 
heathenish and infidel." — Church Union, May 2, 1869. 

" The Bible is our only guide, source of knowledge and 
standard of authority in matters of religion. Whatever is 
taught in the Scriptures is to be believed ; whatever is there 
enjoined is to be obeyed. And what is there neither enjoined 



BIBLE, OR GODLESS CONSTITUTION. 189 

nor taught is not to be imposed on the faith or conscience of 
any man as of religious obligation." — Watchman &= Refiecior. 

"We have a National Constitution which knows no God, 
and disavows all connection with religion." — Christian 
Statesman^ December i, 1870. 

"The object of Government is merely to secure ///<?, liberty 
and propej'ty. If it steps beyond this sphere it becomes the 
greatest curse upon mankind." — Noah Gree7i, a Jew. 

" The proper object of government is to protect all persons 
in the enjoyment of their religious as well as civil rights." — 
Report of the U. S. Senate Committee^ Jan. 29, 1829, <?;2 the 
subject of prohibiti7ig the cofiveyance of the mails on Sunday. 

" We, the People of the United States, in order to form a 
more perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic tran- 
quillity, provide for the common defence, promote the general 
welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and 
our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for 
the United States of America." — Preamble. 

"A godless Constitution." — Church Union. 

"God is not once named in our National Constitution." — 
Constitutional-God Christians' Memorial to Congress. 

"The revealed will of God is of supreme authority." — 
Ibid. 

"We, the people of the United States" \Q<zo%m.zQ ourselves 
as of supreme authority. — [See Declaration of Independence., 
Preamble to the Constitittion., and the Constitution itself^ 

Now, American reader, .Which.? Our Constitution is 
undeniably as godless as a document can possibly be. The 
proposed religious amendment will make the Bible the Con- 
stitution, if votes enough can be secured ; a Jewish Divinity 
the source of all authority and power in our government, a 
divinity so dumb that his servants, the Christian priests, and 
their followers, will talk for him ; while Jesus Christ, as Ruler, 
will empower them to rule in his stead, in the same manner 



IpO THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

that his father kindly delegates them to explain what he 
means. 

If the Bible is to take the place of our grand Magna 
Charta, it will be well to compare the two documents — the 
Bible and the Constitution — so that when the test comes we 
can know which to choose. 

Our "heathenish " Constitution was ordained and estab- 
lished by the people of the United States in order to form a 
"more perfect union" than the old confederacy. What sort 
of union did the Bible ever give any people ? War in Ger- 
many, persecution in England, dissension in Holland, discord 
in the American colonies, and strife in the common schools 
of this Infidel Republic ! 

Our "National Constitution which knows no God, and dis- 
avows all connection with religion," guarantees, 

2. The Establishment of Justice. 

The " people " of all races, independent of Bibles and 
religions, have established justice more evenly than any 
clerical, divine, Church-and-State government ever did. 
American, English, German, Irish — in fact, the people of 
every nation enjoy on these shores equal rights. Can the 
Bible do more than establish justice ? Did it ever do as 
much ? Let us see : 

The Bible requires that if an ox, noted for viciousness, 
kills a man or woman, and its owner has not kept it in, that 
owner shall die.* This was one of the Hebrew laws. Is it 
just ? If it ever was it is now, and if the Bible is to become 
the supreme law of the land, that law should be enforced. 
A man may have a vicious ox that may kill some one ; but 
how killing the owner can balance the scales of justice is not 
clear. 

The Bible teaches that if a thief is too poor to make resti- 
tution he shall be sold for his theft. f Is that Justice.'' 

The Bible teaches, " He that killeth a man, he shall be put 
to death."! 

* Exodus xxi : 28,29. t Exodus xxii : 3. X Lev. xxiv: 21. 



BIBLE, OR GODLESS CONSTITUTION. I9I 

That barbarous law continues to be executed despite some 
of the milder teachings of the Pagans and Jesus Christ. It 
has asserted its power in this enlightened age, as have many 
other Bible laws, and which require centuries for the people 
to fully outgrow. As Free Inquiry has advanced a more 
humanitarian and reasonable view has been gradually super- 
seding the old, unjust and cruel law of killing a man because 
he killed one, as though two wrongs could make one right. 
The conviction that capital punishment was just came from 
the Mosaic law, and some of the older laws of barbarous 
nations. Reason and experience are teaching men contrary 
to, and better than, the Bible ; and so capital punishment, as 
a remedy for crime, is going out of favor with the people. 
But let the Bible take the place of the Constitution and the 
old barbarous code would be restored, " eye for eye, tooth 
for tooth," "life for life," a code which, if carried to its 
logical sequence would sweep the earth of every human 
being, except one ; and he would be left for God to kill, who 
would violate his own law if he did kill him, and would 
disobey it if he did not. 

"Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live,"* would be enforced 
against Spiritualist women mediums; and wizards would 
suffer the same fate.f 

Blasphemy. A " crime " of which all Atheists, and Free 
Thinkers generally, are guilty. If the Bible becomes the 
*' Supreme Law of the land " such an offence would be 
punishable with death. J; This Bible-law is a grand one for 
the extirpation of heresy ! Whenever Christians feared the 
inroads of infidelity, and had the power to execute the law, 
they never hesitated to sever heads from bodies to still blas- 
phemous tongues. 

Sabbath- Breaking;. "Death," according to the Bible, is 
the penalty. § Oh, how the possession of this power would 
rejoice the Christian heart ! To compel every Infidel to bend 
the knee, and observe their divine institution of Sunday, 

* Ex. xxii : 18. f Lev. xx : 27. % Lev. xxiv : 16. § Numb, xv: 35, 36. 



192 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

misnamed Sabbath. How bitter is the lament of the clergy 
now that the Sabbath is so generally desecrated. Says Geo. 
E. Stewart, in the CJwistian Statesma7i : 

'' When we remember the terrible desecration of God's 
day that is tolerated in all our cities, and even in many of the 
small towns of this fair land, we feel that it is the imperative 
duty of every Sabbath-loving man, to lift up his voice against 
this great sin, and do all in his power to resist that alarming 
tendency. 

" The Statesman cannot denounce too frequently, or too 
severely, those who countenance or encourage this violation 
of God's law. And, if the pulpit throughout the land would 
more frequently and earnestly declare God's will upon this 
subject, a very noticeable change could be effected. But I 
regret to know that in very many of our churches, it is a 
subject the preacher very rarely presents to his audience, or 
presents in the most conciliatory manner, having apparently 
forgotten his high trust. The whole American pulpit must 
be aroused to make a united and earnest effort in this direc- 
tion, or before we are aware, the sacred privileges the 
Christian people of this country now enjoy, will be snatched 
forever from us." 

The Statesman of Dec. 15, 1871, says: 

" How long will it be before the Christian masses of this 
country can be roused to enact a law compelling their public 
servants to respect the Sabbath." 

The same organ says it is in favor of "such declarations 
in our fundamental instruments of law as shall show that this 
is a Christian nation, and that Christiaii morality is to be 
ENFORCED ovei' all the inhabitants of its soil ! "* 

The Golden Age thinks it is better " that a hundred Sab- 
baths should be broken, than that liberty should suffer for a 
moment." But the Constitutional-God Christians would 
rather crush liberty a hundred times than permit a moment's 
violation of their Sunday. 

It is the Sunday War renewed, as it has been every few 

* Christian Statesman, Dec. 15, 1871. 



BIBLE, OR GODLESS CONSTITUTION. 193 

years in the history of our country. In 1829 the subject was 
before Congress, and the Senate Committee, Richard M. 
Johnson, Chairman, threw a " wet blanket " over the Clergy's 
effort to stop the mails on Sunday. I submit the following 
paragraphs of that able document : 

"It is the opinion of the Committee, that the subject 
should be regarded simply as a question of expediency, 
irrespective of its religious bearing. In this light, it has 
hitherto been considered. C-ongress have never legislated 
upon the subject. It rests as it ever has done, in the legal 
discretion of the Postmaster General, under the repeated 
refusals of Congress to discontinue the Sabbath mails. His 
knowledge and judgment in all the concerns of that depart- 
ment, will not be questioned. His intense labors and 
assiduity have resulted in the highest improvement. It is 
practiced only on the great leading mail routes ; and such 
others as are necessary to maintain their connections. To 
prevent this, would, in the opinion of the Committee, be pro- 
ductive of immense injury, both in its commercial, political, 
and in its moral bearings. 

" The various departments of government require, fre- 
quently in peace, always in war, the speediest intercourse 
with the remotest parts of the country ; and one important 
object of the mail establishment is, to furnish the greatest 
and most economical facilities for such intercourse. The 
delay of the mails one whole day in seven, would require the 
employment of special expresses, at great expense, and some- 
times with great uncertainty. 

" The commercial, manufacturing, and agricultural inter- 
ests of our country are so intimately connected, as to require 
a constant and the most expeditious correspondence betwixt 
all our sea-ports, and betwixt them and the most interior 
settlements. The delay of the mails during the Sunday, 
would give occasion to the employment of private expresses, 
to such an amount, that probably ten riders would be 
employed where one mail stage is now running on that day; 
thus diverting the revenue of that department into another 
channel, and sinking the establishment into a state of pusil- 
lanimity incompatible with the dignity of the Government of 
which it is a department." 

It is not strange that the clergy feel so sensitive about the 
Sabbath question. Its observance by the mass of people is 
13 



194 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

less and less strict. By and by, if something is not done to 
stop the growing tendency to secularize the "holy day " it 
will fall into disuse entirely, then how will the preachers get 
their living? No Sabbath, no preaching! Forty thousand 
holy men would be compelled to seek some other trade for a 
livelihood. Get the Jewish God recognized, and the Bible 
adopted as the Constitution, and this fearful calamity(!) 
would be avoided. 

Obedience of Children. A stubborn, rebellious, disobedi- 
ent, gluttonous, drunken son would be laid "hold on " by 
the father and mother and brought to the elders of his city,, 
and all the men of that city would be obliged to stone him 
to death* — an interesting spectacle surely. If that was a 
divine plan to put evil away in that age, would it not be 
charming now ? 

The Bible Degrades Woma7i. Nature teaches that man 
and woman are designed to be companions, equals in the 
journey of life. Love exalts its object, does not degrade it. 
But the Bible sinks woman to a state of submission. 

" Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as 
unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, 
even as Christ is the head of the church : and he is the 
savior of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto 
Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every 
thing y\ 

Christians believe that the subjection of the church to 
Christ is complete ; and, as the wives are commanded to be 
equally subject, it follows that the will of the husband is 
supreme over the wife. " But," says the Christian, " Christ's 
rule over the church is a rule of love. It is a pleasure for 
the church to be subject to Christ, to obey Him in every- 
thing. Husbands are commanded in the next verse to ' love 
your wives., even as Christ also loved the Church.' How 
great was His love for the church.? 'He gave himself 
for it. 'I Now if a husband loves his wife so entirely that 

* Deut. xxi : 18-22. f Eph. v: 22-24. % Eph. v : 25. 



BIBLE, OR GODLESS CONSTITUTION. 195 

he would sacrifice his Hfe for her, it is not difficult to con- 
ceive how willingly that wife would obey him. She would 
study his slightest wish, and would delight in living for him 
more than for self. A husband who would love his wife, in 
obedience to the Bible command, as absorbingly as Christ 
loved the church would be a very mild sort of a tyrant ! A 
woman would delight to honor, serve and obey, in everything^ 
such a husband. To her it would not be an irksome duty 
to bow herself in the sweet submission of wife-hood, and own 
her husband her head, as Christ is the Church's head. Call 
that bondage, if you will, but it is the slavery of love, upon 
whose altar her soul must offer sacrifice." 

There, I have put into the Christian's mouth as strong an 
argument as I ever heard any Christian make. Now, I will 
point out its weakness. If the command had made obedi- 
ence contingent upon love the case would have been 
somewhat different. As it is, the wife has no guarantee that 
her husband will love her, and yet he is given the entit-e 
mastery over her. It is true the Bible says, " Husbands, love 
your wives," but if they do not, are the wives exempted from 
obeying them .'' No. The man may ill-treat the woman, 
but she must obey him, be subject to him in everything, 
reasonable and unreasonable. This Bible says to the woman, 
" Thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over 
thee"^ Whether the man is drunk or sober, kind or cruel, 
it is all the same, "he shall rule over thee." Such a doctrine 
is abominable. 

"Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection,"f is 
another command in this book which is proposed as the 
"supreme law of the land." Paul is supposed to be the 
author of this injunction. On one occasion he undertakes to 
sustain an argument by saying that ^^ nature itself" would 
teach its correctness. If he had studied nature a little more 
closely — especially the nature of women — he never would 
have perpetrated the blunder of saying " Let the women 
learn in silence!'' If anything is against nature this is. 

* Gen. iii: 16. f i Tim. ii : 11. 



196 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

He was opposed to women teaching: "1 suffer not a 
woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to 
be ill silenced* 

More silence ! The reason he gives why a woman should 
not teach and should be silent is because "Adam was first 
formed, then Eve."f What a reason ! As good a one could 
have been given for recognizing brutes as superior to men 
'''^for they were first formed^ then men /" 

The author of Corinthians has something more about 
women keeping silent. "Let your women keep silence in 
the churches : for it is not permitted unto them to speak ; 
but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith 
the law. And if they will learn anything, let them ask their 
husbands at home : for it is a shame for women to speak in 
the church."! 

He never imagined that a woman could know more than 
her husband ! 

Lucy Stone Blackwell, and some other biblical commenta- 
tors, in their efforts to show that the Bible is not against 
woman, said the Greek makes the matter plain. The word 
' speak ' should be rendered ^ chatter ' — it is not permitted 
unto them to chatter I Mrs. Blackwell did not perceive what 
a poor compliment either she or Paul paid to her sex. There 
is no command that men should not chatter. Is it only 
women who are guilty of such a misdemeanor .^ 

Paul is said to have recorded his thoughts upon marriage. 
His deliberate opinion was, " It is good for a man not to 
touch a woman." What an idea ! that the sexes, fitted by 
nature to enjoy each others' society, should not touch each 
other! But Paul says, "It is better to marry than to burn." 
What a selfish view of marriage ! To suppose that sensual 
gratification is a sufficient reason for marrying. He conde- 
scends to inform us, " If thou marry thou hast not sinned"! 
There, now, we may breathe more freely. "If a virgin 
marry, she hath not sinned." Remember this, girls, if you 
do marry you are not little sinners ! " Nevertheless such shall 

* I Tim. li : 12. f i Tim. ii : 13. % i Cor. xiv : 34, 35. 



. BIBLE, OR GODLESS CONSTITUTION. 1 97 

have trouble in the flesh, but I spare you." O ! dear, suppose 
he had said anything worse ! He does go so far as to say, 
"He that giveth her in marriage doeth well, but he that 
giveth her not in marriage docth better ^ 

Look at this bit of immorality : " If any man think he 
behaveth himself uncomely toward his virgin, if she pass the 
flower of her age, and need so require, let him do what he will, 
he sinneth not : let them marry."* 

This book, containing such a code of laws, it is proposed 
shall supersede the Constitution ! 

The Bible authorizes Polygamy. Brigham Young who is, 
at the present writing, under five thousand dollars bonds, 
for having more than one wife, practices Bible teaching. 
Christians who admit that the Bible does teach polygamy, 
claim that Jesus Christ blotted it out. But they fail to adduce 
the proof that he did. The clergy as a profession assume 
that he taught monogamy and discountenanced polygamy, 
and cite the following passages to sustain their view : 

"And the Pharisees came to him, and asked him, Is it 
lawful for a man to put away his wife? tempting him. And 
he answered and said unto them. What did Moses command 
you .? And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill of 
divorcement, and to put her away. And Jesus answered and 
said unto them. For the hardness of your heart he wrote you 
this precept. But from the beginning of the creation God 
made them male and female. For this cause shall a man 
leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife. And 
they twain shall be one flesh : so then they are no more 
twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined 
together, let not man put asunder. And in the house his 
disciples asked him again of the same matter. And he saith 
unto them. Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry 
another, committeth adultery against her. And if a woman 
shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she 
committeth adultery, "f 

From these statements they argue. First, that God made 
them male and female. This is not against polygamy. 

* I Cor. viii. f Mark x : 2-12. 



198 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

Unless there had been men and women neither polygamy 
nor monogamy could have existed. Second, they affirm that 
Jesus was opposed to polygamy and favorable to monogamy 
because he said a man shall " cleave to his wife," while if he 
had believed in polygamy he would have advised a man to 
cleave to his wives^ not wife, one. Third, " And they twain 
shall be 07ie flesh." Fourth, "Whosoever shall put away his 
wife," not 7^//z'^i'. Fifth, "And marry another," not ^//^(?r^. 

These statements, they hold, clearly show that Jesus was 
in favor of monogamic marriage. If they do prove this, 
then it can be shown by the same process of reasoning that 
his followers were to " observe and do " whatever Scribes 
and Pharisees enjoined upon them."^ This shows that Jesus 
was a Jew and not a Christian in any sense in which modern 
Christians employ the term. If a man observes and does 
whatever a Christian bids him observe and do, that man is a 
Christian. Jesus acknowledged that the Scribes and Phari- 
sees sat in Moses' seat. I admit the Christians sit in Jesus' 
seat, and they " say, and do not " as effectually as did Scribes 
and Pharisees. 

Polygamy is plainly taught in the Bible. This I repeat, in 
the face of the prevalent notion among Christians that the 
old Jewish laws were abrogated by Jesus Christ. He claimed, 
according to his biographers, that he would fulfil the law, not 
destroy it. Christians have blindly asserted that he fulfilled 
the law, and by fulfilling destroyed it — ^just contrary to what he 
affirmed. " Think not," said he, " that I am come to destroy 
the law * * * I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil."! 
Fulfilling is not abrogating. Till heaven and earth pass, not 
the least portion passes from the law.| He expressly enjoins 
upon his followers the importance of not breaking the least 
commandment. § "Love is the fulfilling of the law," it is 
said. Does love abolish the law when it fulfils it.'* 

I do not deny that the New Testament contains so-called 
new laws or commandments ; nor that some of them are just 
as trivial as those in the Old. Nor is it my place to strive 

* Matt, xxiii: 2, 3. f Matt, v: 17. % Matt, v : 18. § Matt, v: 19. 



BIBLE, OR GODLESS CONSTITUTION. I99 

and reconcile irreconcilable contradictions. That is a cleri- 
cal privilege with which I have no inclination to meddle. If 
the clergy wish to make Jesus Christ deny his own words, 
when he said he came not to destroy the law and then did 
destroy it, I have no objection. I submit that such a book, 
susceptible of so many different interpretations would make 
a bad constitution. 

There is one important item which the clergy overlook 
when they affirm that Jesus condemned Polygamy, namely. 
The Pharisees did not inquire about Polygamy, but the 
monogamic relation of marriage. Hence, the stress laid upon 
the word " wife " has no force. I do not say he believed in 
Polygamy. Neither did he believe in monogamy. He was 
opposed to marriage in every form. When he announces his 
own view on the subject he says, "The children of this world 
marry, and are given in marriage : but they which shall be 
accounted worthy to obtain that worlds and the resurrection 
from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage."* 

So he in fact opposed old institutions while professing to 
endorse them. He endorsed the observances and command- 
ments binding upon the Jews, but announced a different code 
for those who are worthy to obtain that world. The Jews 
believed in both monogamy and polygamy. Jesus told his 
disciples to do what they commanded. If they commanded 
to marry one wife or a dozen wives they, therefore, must 
obey. But his doctrine was that those worthy of the next 
life should not marry, consequently every married Christian 
will fail to obtain that world ! 

Having disposed of Jesus in this connection I will proceed 
to investigate whether the Bible teaches Polygamy — an insti- 
tution at war with the general welfare of the race : 

" David dwelt with Achish at Oath," "even David with 
his two wives Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the Car- 
melitess, Nabal's wife."f "And David took him more 
concubines and wives out of Jerusalem."! 

There are persons who say that because David had several 

* Luke. XX : 34, 35. f i Samuel xxvii : 3. % 11 Samuel v: 13. 



200 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

wives it does not prove that the Bible authorizes polygamy. 
But the fact that he had several, and the additional fact that 
God is represented as saying, " David, who kept my com- 
mandments, and who followed me with all his heart, to do 
that only which was right in mine eyes,"* does prove that the 
Bible authorizes polygamy. The author of Kings in the 
succeeding chapter f makes one exception to David's 
invariable integrity — his adultery with Uriah's wife. His 
crime was in taking another living mans wife. The prophet 
Nathan reprimanded him for it ; but after the death of Uriah 
he took the same woman, though he already had other wives. 
It is nowhere in the book called a sin. 

The "wisest" man that ever lived was the son of David 
and Bathsheba, (Uriah's wife), and was acknowledged by the 
God of the Bible as David's lawful issue,;]; and as such sat 
upon David's throne, proving Polygamy lawful by the Bible 
standard. The Bible-God says through his prophet, Nathan, 
"/gave thee thy master's house, and thy /nasters wives i?ita 
thy bosomr% He evidently thought that ought to have been 
sufficient to prevent him stealing a living man's wife. 

The law on the subject of polygamy as set forth in the 
twenty-first chapter of Deuteronomy is expressly to the point, 
"If a man have two wives,'' one beloved, the other hated, he 
is commanded not to discriminate against the children of the 
hated. If the hated wife has the first son the double portion 
shall be his. The man is prohibited from calling the son of 
the beloved, " first born " when it really is not. || This amounts 
to a demonstration of the Bible-God's authorization of plu- 
rality of wives. To plead that God only " regulated " it 
would be as consistent, if it was considered a sin, as to say- 
he regulated theft, adultery and 7nurder. These were prohib- 
ited. If polygamy was regulated then it is an admission that 
it was " adjusted by rule," "put in good order." 

Much more proof can be adduced from the book ; but it 

* I Kings xiv : 8. f I Kings xv : 5. % 1 Kings v : 5. 
§ II Sam. xii : 8, | Deut. xxi : 15-17. 



BIBLE, OR GODLESS CONSTITUTION. 20I 

is clear from the evidences already given that polygamy is a 
Bible doctrine. 

Says Rev. David O. Allen, D. D., in a work published on 
"India, Ancient and Modern": 

" If polygamy was unlawful, then Leah was the only wife 
of Jacob, and none but her children were legitimate. Rachel 
as well as Bilhah and Zilpah were merely mistresses and 
their children, six in number, were bastards, the offspring of 
adulterous connection. And yet there is no intimation of 
any such views and feelings in Laban's family, or in Jacob's 
family, or in Jewish history. Bilhah and Zilpah are called 
Jacob's wives.* God honored the sons of Rachel, Bilhah 
and Zilpah equally with the sons of Leah, made them the 
patriarchs of seven of the tribes of the nation, and gave them 
equal inheritance in Canaan." 

Rev. Mr. Allen was Missionary of the American Board for 
twenty-five years in India, etc. In his work he devotes an 
appendix to the subject of Polygamy. It was to the interest 
of the Christian Church to get converts ; but this was difficult 
unless they could retain their plurality of wives. It is easy 
for Christians to interpret " God's Word " for the benefit of 
the church ! 

The Bible allows tJtdulgence in Wine and Strong Drink. 
Wine, generally a poisonous compound of alcohol and drugs, 
has been imbibed by Christians in every age since the origin 
of the Christian church, as a religious ceremony based upon 
the Bible. It will probably never be known to what extent 
this practice has kept alive, or fostered, the taste for strong 
drink. 

David said God " causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, 
and herb for the service of man : that he may bring forth 
food out of the earth ; and wine that maketh glad the heart 
of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which 
strengtheneth man's heart, "f 

A shining face, and a glad, strong heart ! Who would not 
be happy .? No wonder Paul advised Timothy to use a little 

* Gen. xxxvii : 2. f Ps. civ : 14, 15. 



202 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

wine for his stomach's sake and his often infirmities !* 
" Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine 
unto those that be of heavy hearts. Let liim drink, and forget 
his poverty, and remember his misery no more."t 

At Joseph's feast, prepared for his brethren, it is said they 
drank, (wine probably), and were merry.]; " How great is 
his goodness, [God's] and how great is his beauty ! Corn 
shall make the young men cheerful, and new wine the 
maids. "§ 

We will not multiply texts to show that the Bible is not a 
Temperance book. I am familiar with the claims of Chris- 
tians in this theoretically Total-abstinence age. They say the 
Bible is opposed to the use of ardent spirits. Were it true, 
then it is both for and against the practice. A queer consti- 
tution it would be ; as unreliable as the Delphian Oracles ; 
contradictory ! just what we might expect of a book written 
by different men in different ages. But let us examine the 
texts usually adduced to prove that the Bible is against the 
use of intoxicating drink. 

" Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it 
giveth his color in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. "|| 

Does that mean that wine shall not be drank at all } Paul 
did not so understand it. Nor did the writer of the same 
book in a subsequent chapter, already quoted. Yet this is 
uniformly repeated, by Bible advocates of Temperance, to 
convey the impression that the Bible favors total prohibition. 
It was no doubt, a peculiar kind of wine, if the context 
(about which the clergy profess to be so particular) is taken 
into account ; but in this instance they neglected the context : 

"Who hath woe.? who hath sorrow .<* who hath conten- 
tions.? who hath babbling .? who hath wounds without cause.? 
who hath redness of eyes.?"!^ 

* I Tim, V : 23. f Prov. xxxi : 6, 7. % Gen. xliii : 34. 
^ Zech. ix : 17. || Prov. xxiii : 31. \ Prov. xxiii : 29. 



BIBLE, OR GODLESS CONSTITUTION. 203 

Now mark the answer in the next verse ? 

" They that tarry lo7ig at the v/ine ; they that go to seek 
mixed \N'vcvty 

The kind described in this chapter as biting like a serpent 
and stinging like an adder, could not have been the same 
that "maketh glad the heart of man,"* and which the Bible 
represents God intended for man's use to go hand in hand 
with the "staff of life." 

The texts usually quoted to prove the Bible a Temperance 
book, relate to the excessive use of drink ; its abuse, as it is 
termed by some ; and also to particular classes living at the 
time the texts were penned. For instance, the Nazarite vow 
required that the Israelite who took it should " separate 
himself from wine and strong drink ": further, he was 
enjoined to not drink vinegar of either wine or strong liquor; 
nor to eat grapes or raisins. f " Drink not wine nor strong 
drink," which I have heard quoted to prove the Bible a total- 
abstinence book, had no reference to the Israelites as a 
people, nor to people in general, but to the mother of Sam- 
son, because the child was to be a " Nazarite unto God " 
from birth. J The Rechabites drank no wine.§ If wine- 
drinking is discountenanced by the Bible because the Naza- 
rites and Rechabites were prohibited from its use, then eating 
grapes and raisins is disapproved and building houses not to 
be tolerated.il The law prohibiting the priesthood from 
drinking wine and strong drink when on duty ^ allows them, 
by implication, to drink wine and strong drink when they 
come out of the "tabernacle " or out of the "inner court." 

It was against the excessive use of wine, and other intoxi- 
cating drinks, at which were aimed the laws, supposed by 
many to be prohibitory of their use by people in general. 
The aged holy women were to be "not given to much 
wine."\* The old women were expected to keep the 

* Ps. civ: 15. f Num. vi : 3. % Jud. xiii : 4,5. § Jer. xxxv: 6. 
\ Jer. xxxv : 7. T[ Ezek xliv : 21. %* Titus ii : 3. 



204 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANCER. 

young women sober. The holy aged women are thus left 
to enjoy their sips. 

"Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess,"* was 
addressed to the Ephesians. 

" Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging,"f is no prohi- 
bition of the " aged women " alluded to tasting some wine ; 
and Timothy indulging a "little;" while the man " ready to 
perish " for want of a drop, would receive his allowance. A 
little wine, then, could not be a mocker for Timothy ; nor 
could strong drink be raging unless taken in a " raging " 
quantity, in which case it is apparent that "whosoever is 
deceived thereby is not wise. "J; It is the abuse, then, and 
not the use, of wine and strong drink, that is condemned. § 

Clearly, the Bible is not a temperance book according to 
the modern idea of temperance, namely, total abstinence 
from the use of all intoxicating drinks, in health and in sick- 
ness. Surely, such a book is not conducive to the "general 
welfare." When our legislation is made to harmonize with 
the preamble in respect to the general welfare, all traffic in 
intoxicating liquors will be declared injurious to the race, 
and will be forever abolished by the will of the people. 

There are many Bible commandments which must be 
passed by. Those I cite show how utterly destructive to the 
fundamental principles of our nation would be the domina- 
tion of Bible precepts. A government managed upon the 
Bible model would be "confusion worse confounded." 

Promote the General Welfare. 

This clause of our Constitution may be sneered at as a 
"glittering generality;" but practically it has built a giant 
nation in less than a century. It has lifted this "godless" 
nation to a front rank among earthly Powers. It has made 
millions of hearts bound with joy. It has inspired the 

* Eph. v: i8. f Prov. XX : i. % Prov. xx I. 

§ Prof. Roswell D. Hitchcock, D. D., Union Theological Seminary, 
New York City, in his New and Complete Analysis of the Bible, takes 
this same position. 



BIBLE, OR GODLESS CONSTITUTION. 205 

oppressed of kingly governments with courage to brave every 
danger in order to reach our shores. It has given them self- 
reliance, energy to level forests, dig canals, build railroads, 
erect telegraphs in a new world, instead of the old one where 
manhood is reckoned at a lower rate than pedigree. " The 
general welfare " — not the welfare specially of a titled nobility, 
or of a privileged class, but the greatest good to the greatest 
number, in opposition to the greatest good to a pampered 
few. 

Is Bible law calculated to promote the general welfare ? 

Nothing in the Bible to secure union. See the hundreds 
of quarreling sects! If 7/nwn could exist among them it 
would be the union of despotism, the despotism of Chris- 
tianity. Bible Christians would not, as the people seek to 
do, "establish justice." 

Insure Domestic Tranquillity. 

It is not a Bible precept. This is a principle contained 
in the preamble. Could the Bible improve it ? Could 
tranquillity be secured with forty thousand priests meddling 
with the affairs of State.'' The history of every "divine" 
government shows that it could not. Our government 
seeks to cultivate friendly relations with all nations; but 
the priesthood would engage in forced missionary labor 
among the " heathen," and secure the salvation of their souls 
by judicious investment in Bibles and Sharp's rifles.* 
Christianity, like Mohammedanism, has forced its way 
mainly by the sword. This is not a matter of astonishment. 
Christians have a God of w^ar for an example. He was 

* A. Maclaine, D.D., says that in the thirteenth century " the Knights 
of the Teutonic order conquered and converted to ChHstianity the Prus- 
sians." 

This order was established in the Holy Land about 1191. 

On their return lo Germany, they were invited to subdue and Christian- 
ize the country now called Prussia, and its neighborhood, which they 
gradually accomplished. The order was dissolved by Napoleon I, m 
1809. 

Protestantism is not averse to the use of force. The late horrid butch- 



2o6 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

extremely fond of war, though not always successful. 
Recognize him as the source of authority and power in civil 
government, and there would be an end to domestic tran- 
quillity in the States. 

The Constitution of the United States of America was 
ordained and established to "Insure the Blessings of 
Liberty to Ourselves and our Posterity." 

No pen can do that clause justice. It embodies a principle 
for which our forefathers periled all ; a principle which 
Christians are endeavoring to overturn ; a principle so grand, 
yet so plain that a young child can comprehend it. 

The Constitution is opposed to religious tests. Is the 
Bible ? The Constitution inhibits Congress from making any 
law respecting an establishment of religion. This is why 
Christians want the Bible to take its place. 

The Bible Sanctions Slavery. A " divine institution," 
which was abolished in spite of the Bible, and in obedience 
to the demand of progressive civilization for a practical 
illustration of a fundamental principle of our government — 

eries of Jews in Roumania has provoked the indignation of several 
governments, our own among the number. 

The Louisville Courier- Journal, May 23, 1872, gives the Turks more 
credit than Christians for humanity. It says the Turks " have no desire 
to see their Jewish subjects, who are thrifty, law-abiding citizens, mur- 
dered in cold blood by their wretched fellow-subjects who style themselves 
Christians. It is this thrift and prosperity which shock their orthodox 
neighbors, who find their religious zeal wonderfully quickened by the 
prospect of plundering a pawnbroker's shop and seizing and destroying 
the mortgages which are evidence of indebtedness to the obnoxious Jew. 
The Roumanian authorities are justly held responsible for the outrages 
and massacres committed on unoffending people. It is a fact of perhaps 
some political significance that similar atrocities were perpetrated about 
the same time in Ismalia and other towns in the Bessarabian district ceded 
to Turkey by Russia at the close of the Crimean war." 

" The Jews are very numerous in the great centers of trade in Rou- 
mania, Poland, and Southern Russia. In Turkey they have received 
better treatment than in most Christian countries, and have not unfre- 
quently found there an asylum from the persecutions of their orthodox 
Christian neighbors." 



BIBLE, OR GODLESS CONSTITUTION. 2O7 

the general welfare. The ministers now cannot see that the 
Bible teaches slavery. At one time their eye-sight was better. 
It began to fail, among the Northern clergy, in proportion to 
the increased popularity of abolitionism. To the best of 
their recollection, up to the present writing, Chrisiimtity 
abolished American Slavery. 

Make the Bible the Supreme Law, and the crack of the 
Slave-driver's whip, and, " Servants, obey in all things your 
masters,"* will again be heard in this land. Religion and 
cupidity would combine to effect a restoration of slavery. 
The " Law-Book " would be appealed to : " Of the children 
of the strangers that do sojourn among you, of them shall 
ye buy, and of their families that are with you, which they 
begat in your land : and they shall be your possession. And 
ye shall take them as an inheritance for your children after 
you, to inherit them for a possession ; they shall be your 
bondmen forever, "f No plea that all slaves were set free 
every jubilee year among the Jews will avail. They had 
their possession of slaves from generation to generation. 
Moreover, Jehovah himself said he would sell human beings, 
first into the hands of the Jews, and they would sell them to 
a distant people. | Notwithstanding jubilees, slavery existed 
in the time of Jesus Christ and the apostles, and not a single 
word of rebuke against slavery from any of them — not one 
word against the detestable institution. It was upheld by 
New Testament writers. Slaves were commanded by them 
to labor for their masters as if they were working for God,§ 
" doing service " for them with " fear and trembling."! How 
abject such a condition ! Could anything be more calculated 
to crush the nobility of manhood, and smother the last spark 
of manly liberty ? 

"Oh, but the Bible is such a complete book," we are told, 
" that it also enjoins a duty upon the masters, 'ye masters, 
do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening : know- 

* Col. iii : 22. \ Lev. xxv : 45, 46. % Joel iii : 8. 
g Col iii : 22, 23. \ Ephesians vi : 5, 7. 



208 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

ing that your Master also is in heaven ; neither is there respect 
of persons with him.' " 

Suppose the masters did not do this, was there any help 
for the slaves } None whatever. They must obey just the 
same, according to the book. Not only that, but the Bible 
commands that however cruel the masters, they are to be 
obeyed. " Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear ; 
not only to th.Q good a7id geiitle^ but also to the frowardy* 
Thus the Bible fastens the last rivet in the slave's chain. It 
tells him to endure all this grief and suffering "wrongfully; "f 
that it is " thankworthy " to do it. It tells the poor, trem- 
bling creature that when he is chastised for faults, and is 
patient, there is no particular merit in his patience ; but 
when he does well, then suffers for it, and takes it patiently, 
" this is acceptable with God."| 

Say the ministers, " There is neither Jew nor Greek, there 
is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female : 
for ye are all one in Christ Jesus." § 

As the old slave-driver's whip descended into the quiver- 
ing flesh of the slave he could have kept time with the 
strokes, "neither bond nor free," "all one in Christ Jesus." 

Ah ! but did not Jesus utter a protest against slavery when 
he said, "Neither be ye called masters?" I answer. No. 
He was speaking of ecclesiastical rule, not domestic slavery. || 
Many years after the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, Peter, and 
other apostles, writing under the inspiration of the Holy 
Ghost (.?) endorsed the "peculiar institution." Peter ex- 
pressly declared that a servant suffering unjustly and meekly 
at the hands of a cruel master was pleasing to God. Such 
is Bible law. What a superior state of society would exist 
under such a godly constitution instead of the one framed 
under the presidency of Washington ! 

The Bible is a book of Kingcraft. This is unmistakable. 
" Honor the king "1^ is one of its leading features. Submit 

* I Peter ii : i8. f i Peter ii: 19. % i Peter ii : 20. 
§ Gal. iii : 28. [j Mat. xxiii : 1-13. ^ i Peter ii : 17. 



BIBLE, OR GODLESS CONSTITUTION. 209 

yourselves to the king.* Be submissive.f Resist not tyrants. 
Endure wrong, every kind of injustice, the most hateful 
oppression. Such is the teaching of the Bible. Every ruler, 
every tyrant was, and is, by the authority of the Bible, the 
minister of God, to resist whom is to deserve damnation.^ 
Our Infidel government was originated in opposition to kings 
and Bibles, and unless the American people are recreant to 
their trust it will remain steadfast in spite of them. 

The issue is the Bible or the United States Constitution. 
The Constitution guarantees to every State in this Union a 
Republican form of government. With such a Constitution 
as the Bible this would be impossible. Every Christian who 
repeats the *' Lord's Prayer " is guilty of uttering treasonable 
sentiments against the United States ! " Thy kingdom come." 
What American wants a kingdom } We demand a Republi- 
can form of government. 

We may be told that it is a heavenly kingdom that is 
desired. I answer, We want no kind of kingdom ; not even 
a heavenly one will suit free America — a Republic, or 
nothing ! I am sorry to say there are some Liberalists whp 
think a kingdom is not an abominable institution, because 
we belong to the "animal kingdom." Yes, but when we 
wish to distinguish man from beast we dignify man by desig- 
nating him a member of the hiunan race ! Others, who long 
since abandoned the word " kingdom " politically, and now 
consider it a bad term for a government on earth, imagine 
there is something lovely in it when applied to a Spiritual 
state. They draw an ideal picture of loving angels, inex- 
pressible purity and unspeakable happiness, which they 
denominate a " kingdom " of God, or Heaven, and then 
inquire why we should object to such a kingdom ! They 
proceed to enlighten our darkened understandings with the 
novel information that a " heavenly kingdom " is a place, or 
condition, where everybody will be supremely happy ; where 
love, peace and harmony will reign triumphant; where joy 
will be unalloyed ; where meals are square ; beds clean and 

* I Peter ii : 13. f i Peter ii : 20. % ^o\x\- xiii : 1-6. 
14 



210 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

bugless ; linen eternally and immaculately white ; slumbers 
undisturbed ; singing popular ; concerts free ; and plenty of 
" nothing to do." Who would not have a kingdom ! a heav- 
enly kingdom, where the "poor in spirit" are "blessed"; 
where the mourning shall be comforted ; where the hungry 
and thirsty after righteousness shall be filled ; where the 
" pure in heart " " shall see God " ; where people will " rejoice 
and be exceeding glad." 

If there is such a state of things in the future world I 
cannot see the propriety of calling it a " kingdom." King- 
doms on earth are passing away. It would be more fitting 
to term it a Republic, a cozy, free Republic. Experience 
has taught mankind that Self-rule is better than kingly gov- 
ernment, earthly or heavenly. The will of the people is the 
source of power, is supreme. Our government is independ- 
ent of every kingdom, earthly or heavenly. When Christians 
pray, "Thy kingdom come," they refer to a particular 
government under God's rule. They say " Our Father which 
art in Heaven." Jesus Christ endorsed the Jewish God, 
and Christians believe it was he whom Jesus addressed. In 
order to know what kingdom is specifically desired to come 
on earth, we must examine the so-called record of the 
heavenly king's earthly reign. Then we will be intelHgently 
prepared to decide whether we wish its restoration. If 
Jehovah is to be recognized as the " Source of all authority 
and power in civil government " we ought to become familiar 
with his character. 



XI. 



GOD S CHARACTER. 

" The Bible teaches us of God and his character." — Rev. Mr. Ambler in Salem 
(Ohio) Bible Conventioji. 

" That the character of God, as made known to us in his Word and works, is the 
only infallible moral standard, and that neither States nor individuals can have a 
moral character except by assenting and conforming to the Divine Standard," 

—Prof. O. N. Stoddard. 

While we have the liberty, which this Infidel government 
guarantees, it will be advisable to examine the character of 
Jehovah, proposed as a candidate for the highest office in 
the gift of the people. Christians without exception endorse 
the statement of Rev. Ambler, that '^ the Bible teaches us of 
God and his character." I will proceed at once to examine 
his record. 

1. God is represented as being jealous of other Gods."^ 
Jealousy is not a beautiful trait in the character of even an 
imperfect human being. If it is " godlike " to be jealous it 
is a quality worthy of imitation and commendation. 

2. The Bible God delights to behold Bloodshed, On a 
certain occasion he commanded Moses to " take all the heads 
of the people, and hang them up before the Lord against the 
sun, that the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned away from 
Israel"! He reveled in the sight of gory heads and lifeless 
bodies. 

On another occasion there were seven persons hanged " in 
the hill before the Lord," % and when their bones, and those 
of Saul and Jonathan, had been gathered, and all the king's 

* Ex. XX : 5. f Num. xxv : 4. % 11 Sam. xxi : ; 11 Sam. xxi : 14 



212 THE CLERGY A SOURCE Of DANGER, 

commands had been performed, " after that God was entrea- 
ted for the land." The riot commenced because Saul slew 
the Gibeonites. On account of Saul's bloody house there 
was a famine for three years. At the end of that time David 
bethought himself to ask Jehovah " what can the matter be .''" 
The killing of the two sons of Rispah and the five sons of 
Michal restored this Bible God to a serene state of mind. 
A three year's divine "huff" eclipses the generality of those 
domestic infelicities which sometimes characterize the "omin- 
ous silence " between a husband and a wife. 

A Midianitish woman was brought by an Israelite into the 
sight of Moses and all the congregation of Israelites. 
" Phineas, the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron " took a 
javelin in his hand and killed them both. The Lord was 
delighted, and declared that his wrath was turned away on 
account of this " zeal " in killing, manifested by Phineas for 
his "sake." Phineas and his seed were honored by God 
with the promise of an everlasting priesthood.* 

3. The Bible God is partiaL\ Of the Israelites he is 
represented as saying, "Thou art a holy people unto the 
Lord thy God : the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a 
special people unto himself, above all people that are upon 
the face of the earth." 

4. The Bible God is cruel. He caused defenceless women 
and dear babies to be murdered. | He slaughtered a great 
many persons because they merely peeped into his traveling 
box.§ His anger was so great against his chosen people 
that he m^oved David to number them, and then killed 
seventy thousand innocent people because David did just 
what God compelled him to do, || although in this instance 
it is not certain that the Devil did not do it. 1^ Indeed, 
judging by the bad character which the Bible gives the 

* Num. XXV. 

f Ex. xix : 6 ; Ps. xxxiii : 12 ; Deut. xiv : 21 ; Deut. vii : 6 ; Ex. vi : 7. 

X Num. xxxi : 17. § I Sam. vi : ig. 

II II Sam. xxiv : i. ^ i Chron, xxi : i. 



god's character. 213 

Jewish Jehovah, he, (as an Emerald Islander would say,) is 
the other one all the time ! The ministers will not thank me 
for making this discovery ! 

His soul was grieved on account of the misery of Israel ; 
but it was the misery he himself inflicted.* 

He proposed at one time to visit terrible punishment upon 
his chosen people but Moses plead like a lawyer, and the 
Lord, in consequence, was changed from his unchangeable 
purpose.f Moses' appeal to his organ of approbativeness 
was a masterly stroke. J 

God killed a man by the name of Uzzah who put forth 
his hand to take hold of the ark because the oxen shook it, 
a poor reward for the man's kind services to keep the thing 
from tumbling over.§ 

5. The Bible God is imjust. He hardened Pharaoh's 
heart and afflicted the poor man because his heart was har- 
dened ! 

He advised his chosen children to give bad meat to stran- 
gers, or to sell it to aliens,] a crime to which there is attached 
a heavy penalty in this human government. 

6. The Bible God approved of murder. Proofs already 
given. 

7. He sanctioned Polygamy. Proofs furnished. 

8. He endorsed Slavery. Proved. 

9. He authorized lying. %, 

10. He deceives.*'^ 

11. He setids delusion. \\ 

1 2 . He accepted Human sacrifice. J % 

13. He applauded the disposition to offer to himself a human 
being as a burnt offering. §§ 

14. He accepted a maiden as a burnt offering. \\ 

* Jud. x: 16. f Mai. iii: 6 ; Jam. 1 : 17. % Num. xiv : 11-20. 

§ II Sam. vi: 6. \ Deut. xiv: 21. ^ Ezek. xiv : 9. 

** Jer. XX : 7. ff i Kings xxii : 22; ii Thes. li : 11, 12. 

JJ II Sam. xxi: 8, 9, 14 ; i Cor. v: 7. 

§§ Gen. xxii: 2. 16, 17, 18. |||j Judges xi: 30-40. 



214 ^'^E CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

15. He instituted the indecent law of circuincision* 

1 6 . He is a ferocious divinity. \ 

1 7 . He gets mad and swears. J 

18. He is a furious God.% 

No one with the Bible in hand can successfully deny a 
single one of these statements. Here we have presented as 
a candidate for the suffrages of the American people a person 
who is jealous, bloodthirsty, partial, cruel, unjust, murderous, 
indecent, lying, ill-tempered, fretful, unreliable. 

How can it be possible that human beings entertain such 
unworthy conceptions of any divinity J Strange as it may 
seem I have met clergymen in the debating arena who have 
stolidly asserted that they believe all this of their God 
because the Bible teaches it, and they would argue that a 
Divine Being, the Creator, has a right to do with his own as 
he pleases ! that the author of all law is not himself amenable 
to any law ! that when he caused smiling infants to be 
" dashed to pieces " || it was perfectly right. 

I confess the indictment against King George III by the 
Colonists was not as severe as this against the Jewish Chris- 
tian God. But, then. King George was not so bad a 
character as Jehovah. Probably tories were no more shocked 
on reading the charges against their "beloved king" than 
some of my Christian readers will be when reading my 
indictment against their heavenly king, whom they are 
anxious should be recognized by American democrats and 
republicans. Still, I have spared their feelings by giving but 
a few samples of the barbarous acts of God's government 
upon earth. I could increase the number of counts in the 
bill many fold were it necessary. The Christian Devil has a 
better character than the Christian God. It is an unfortu- 
nate ecclesiastical-political stroke against their scheme that 

* Gen. xvii : g-14. 

f Jer. xiii: 14; Deut. vii : 16; i Sam. xv: 2, 3; Num. xxxii : 11. 

X Deut. i: 34, § Nahum i: 2; Ezek. xx : 21. 

I Isaiah xiii : 16-18. 



GOD'S CHARACTER. 215 

they did not propose the " fourth person in the trinity " for 
recognition in our Constitution. In view of the character of 
God which the Bible gives we can see why the Jewish people 
became tired of his rule, and demanded a human king. 
Jehovah was displeased at this lack of appreciation, although 
lie made no attempt to deny that his governmental officials 
were exceedingly corrupt,* " turned aside after lucre, and 
[ook bribes, and perverted judgment." They were as cor- 
rupt as the Christian officials of New York city. Jehovah 
seemed to prefer that the iniquity should continue, rather 
than that the old " ring " should be broken up. But the 
people were clamorous for a change. They had had enough 
of theocracy. Then Jehovah complained, " They have 
rejected me, that I should not reign over them." He finally 
consented that they should have an earthly king, but entered 
a solemn protest, and gave them warning how a king would 
act. 

"And Samuel told all the words of the Lord unto the 
people that asked of him a king And he said. This will be 
the manner of the king that shall reign over you He will 
take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, 
and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his 
chariots. And he will appoint him captains over thousands, 
and captains over fifties ; and will set them to ear his ground, 
and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, 
and instruments of his chariots. And he will take your 
daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be 
bakers. And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, 
and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to 
his servants. And he will take the tenth of your seed, and 
of your vineyards, and give to his officers and to his servants. 
And he will take your men-servants and your maid-servants, 
and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them 
to his work. He will take the tenth of your sheep : and ye 
shall be his servants And ye shall cry out in that day 
because of your king which ye shall have chosen you ; and 
the Lord will not hear you in that day." 

Kings are costly. But the people were determined not to 
* I Sam. viii : 1-7. 



216 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

be frightened at the cost. A heavenly king is more expen- 
sive than a multitude of earthly kings. They shouted back, 
" We will have a king over us." They were determined to 
be in the fashion, and have a king "like all the nations " to 
judge them, and fight their battles. Jehovah supposed he 
could intimidate them by representing that in getting rid of 
one tyrant they would be compelled to have as expensive a 
one in his place. Neither God, Samuel, nor the people 
suggested a Republic^ whose chief officer would receive his 
limited wages like other servants of the people. Ignorant 
of the simpler, better way, the people supposed they must 
jump from the fire of theocratic rule into the frying-pan of 
a divinely-anointed kingship. They ought to have known 
that if they allowed their deposed heavenly king to have a 
" finger in the pie " that he would make it hot for them. A 
pity they could not have had a Thomas Paine to have sug- 
gested a little "wretched French Infidelity" which, though 
it failed in France where the combined strength of priest- 
craft and king-craft proved too great for it, has succeeded so 
admirably on American soil. 

Jehovah's description of the manner of a king was strictly 
after the " divine " pattern. Kings are "kith and kin." Let 
us pray: "Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven." 
Judged by the earthly reign I vote, No! How is it in 
heaven "i There is no marrying there, according to the Bible, 
" Neither marry, nor are given in marriage "* Luke reports 
that those who marry on earth are unworthy to obtain the 
world to come .? \ A heaven of old maids and bachelors I 
dismal ! worse than a Mohammedan heaven. A Christian 
heaven must be an extensive Shaker Community. Paul, too, 
was unfavorable to marriage. He considered that those who 
did not marry did better than those who do. J; If it be 
" God's will " that Shakerism exist in heaven, then whenever 
Christians pray that his will be done, " as in heaven, so ia 

, * Mark xii : 25. f Luke xx : 34, 35. 

X I Cor. vii: 8, 9, 28, 32, 33, 34, 38, 40. 



GOD'S CHARACTER. 217 

earth " they mean that all men should become eunuchs for 
"heaven's sake."* The "Lord's Prayer" is genuine Sha- 
kerism. 

If God rules in Heaven as he is said to have ruled on 
earth in former years we are certain we do not want his 
kingdom to come, nor his will to be done in our nation. So 
far as the United States are concerned it cannot be. They 
guarantee to protect each State from invasion or domestic 
violence, and woe betide the foreign potentate, earthly or 
heavenly that makes the attempt to invade or disturb our 
domestic peace. Who wants to have a kingdom ? 

* Mat. xix : 12. 



XII. 

SHALL WE ELECT JESUS? 

" Lord ! what a wretched land is this ! " 

— Rev. Isaac IVaiis, D. D. 

The Constitutional-God Christians nominate Jesus Christ 
as the "Ruler among the Nations." They believe their 
candidate is worthy of the votes of all the people. They 
sing with Watts, 

" Go, worship at Immanuel's feet, 
See in his face what wonders meet ! 
Earth is too narrow to express 
His worth, his glory, or his grace." 

"Join all the names of love and power, 
That ever men or angels bore ; 
All are too mean to speak his worth. 
Or set Immanuel's glory forth." 

"Jesus, in thee our eyes behold ' 
A thousand glories more 
Than the rich gems and polished gold 
The sons of Aaron wore." 

Assuredly there is no nominee of whom more could be 
said. 

In the two preceding chapters the laws of the Bible as a 
whole, and the character of Jehovah are duly considered. 
But as there is a partiality among Christians for the New 
Testament laws I will examine them incidentally while 
analyzing the character of Jehovah's son. As he is esteemed 
a pattern of moral and religious truth, it behooves us to 



SHALL WE ELECT JESUS? 219 

investigate his sayings, teachings, commands and acts. 
Christians claim that the reHgious and moral teachings of 
their Founder are unequaled. Many Liberalists have admit- 
ted them to be full of charity and wisdom ; beautiful, chaste 
and, therefore, elevating ; and that on the whole his system 
of religion has never been surpassed. From the claim of the 
Christian, on the one hand, and this admission of many 
Liberalists on the other, I radically differ. The precepts of 
Jesus Christ, his commandments as a whole, (and that is the 
way he declared they must be received,) if set side by side 
with our Infidel Constitution, and the people were asked to 
choose which should be their Fundamental Law, every true 
American, every one who loves his country more than super- 
stition, would take the present Great Charter and leave the 
precepts ! I will endeavor to make plain my reasons for this 
view. Were we at liberty to select from his system of religion 
and morals whatever Reason accepts, and to repudiate what it 
rejects the case would be far different. But, now, those who 
would be his followers must keep all of his commandments, 
not some of them. This makes his system a religion of 
authority, and not of Reason, The mass of his teachings 
are vague, impracticable, and, as a whole, absurd. They 
contain a great deal of bad morality. 

Christians generally obtain their ideas of Jesus and his 
doctrines not so much from the New Testament as from the 
panegyrics by the clergy, and highly-wrought tropes and 
figures by Christian poets, whose imaginations are all ablaze 
in the furnace of religious frenzy. To such the Judean men- 
dicant becomes an oracle, a divine law-giver, eclipsing Moses 
in majesty; a king, surpassing the magnificence of Solomon; 
a God, rivaling the Jehovah of the Jews. A bare intimation 
that he was a man^ not unlike other men, is by the Christian 
hero-worshiper condemned in unmeasured terms as a " blas- 
phemy wild." 

Jesus was the author of a few reformatory ideas, but to 
those very reforms the churches called Christian are as much 
opposed as was the Jewish church. He did not believe in 



220 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

the taking of oaths.* Christians do. He did not believe in 
public formal prayer.f The prayer which he taught them 
was to be offered in secret.! He did not believe in long 
prayers such as the heathen, he said, practiced. § Many 
Christians ostentatiously engage in long, " vain repetitions." 
He advised his disciples not to be "like unto them." But 
those of the present day who profess to be his disciples are 
" like unto them." His advice to feed the hungry, clothe 
the naked, visit the sick,l| was excellent, but hundreds of 
years prior to his time Pagans gave the same advice. Though 
he was not in favor of easy divorce he was friendly to easy 
adultery. 1^ It is true he counseled the woman to go and sin 
no more, but if she had sinned four hundred-and-ninety 
times she would have been excusable according to his ethics.** 
If she had been condemned by him, an executioner could 
not have been found because no one could have possessed 
the qualification of being sinless. ff According to that prin- 
ciple all crime would go unpunished. 

Nnu Testament law of divorce. According to the teach- 
ings of Jesus if a divorced woman marries she is guilty of 
adultery,J;J be she ever so pure. A husband who puts away 
his wife and marries another is guilty of adultery. §§ Even 
the man who marries the divorced woman commits adultery. |] || 
No allowance is made if he should be ignorant of the fact 
that she had been divorced. 

In the time of Moses " God's " law was in favor of " easy 
divorce," more easy than divorce in the State of Indiana or 
the city of Chicago. All a man had to do was to write his 
wife a bill of divorcement, give it in her hand and send her 
out of his house, if she found no favor in his eyes, z. ^., if he 
had found some uncleanness in her.\* But notwithstanding 
her uncleanness the law declares " she may go and be another 

* Mat. V : 33-37. t Mat. vi . 5-8. % Mat. vi : 6. 
§ Mat. vi : 7. || Mat. xxv : 35-40. ^ John viii : 3-11. 

** Mat, xviii : 15-23. ff John vui: 7. %% Mark x ; 12. 
§§ Mark x: II. || Lake xvi : 18. 



SHALL WE ELECT JESUS? 221 

man's wife."* If the latter husband hate her he is allowed 
to serve her as her former husband did — send her tramping! 
The former husband, however, is forbidden to take her again, 
even if the latter one dies. The plan evidently was to pass 
her around, on condition that she must have a new " affinity " 
at each change. If the woman under the old code had had 
an equal chance to rid herself of a husband, in whom she 
had found " some uncleanness," (a drunken sot, for instance,) 
on which account it could scarcely be expected that he would 
find " favor " in the eyes of a refined, pure-hearted v/oman, 
the law would have been just to all parties. As it is, it 
proves to be one-sided. 

Jesus Christ disavowed any intention of destroying the 
Mosaic law; yet he proposed one which he manifestly 
intended for soft-hearted people ;f either this, else it does 
supersede the law of Moses. If the latter, then a man or 
woman who makes a mistake in matrimony is "doomed to 
abide by it so long as they both shall live. This law of 
Jesus Christ — which the ministers profess to be so anx- 
ious to have carried out to the very letter — would compel a 
woman to suffer any amount of brutal treatment from a 
husband. He may make a slave of her, physically and 
mentally, and there is no redress, according to the stringent 
and unjust law of divorce as laid down in the New Testa- 
ment. No release for her ; no hope, save when her body is 
wrapped in the quiet grave, and her spirit is freed from her 
merciless tormentor. Some men are legally bound to terma- 
gants — terrible fate — language fails ! The New Testament 
law compels them to live together and hate on to the bitter 
end. A better divorce law exists in many states of this 
Union, and the clergy are moaning because it does exist. 
Thus I prove that if even the New Testament were to be 
made the fountain of law for this nation, injustice in social 
life would everywhere in the States prevail. Nearly a score 
of causes for divorce are now allowed in the United States, 
any one of which is sufficient for the procurement of a bill. 

* Deut. xxiv : 2. f Mark x: 5. 



222 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

This is just as it should be. Matthew is the only one who 
reports that there should be any cause for a divorce — and 
that is the fornication of a wife,* not a word about the forni- 
cation of a husband. Matthew declares that whoever 
marries the divorced woman commits adultery. There is 
but one implication which favors even the husband who is 
divorced from a fornicator, as contained in these words : 
" Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for forni- 
cation, and shall marry another, committeth adultery, "f 

That language implies that if a wife commits the crime, 
the husband of that wife is at liberty to re-marry. But both 
Mark and Luke are against Matthew's implication. Says 
Mark, "Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry 
another, committeth adultery against her. And if a woman 
shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she 
committeth adultery. "| This is without any qualification. 
Luke is equally emphatic : " Whosoever putteth away his 
wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery : and who- 
soever marrieth her that is put away from her husband 
committeth adultery. "§ Matthew, Mark and Luke are united 
in reporting that Jesus Christ taught that whoever marries a 
divorced woman commits adultery. No matter what the 
crime of the husband, a wife is not allowed to put him away 
and marry another. If he is a fornicator, and his wife is 
divorced from him, and re-marries, she commits adultery. 
The divorce law of Moses was better than that of Jesus, but 
both the law of Moses and the law of Jesus were unjust 
to the woman. And these men, Moses and Jesus, Christians 
ivish to have recognized as the law-givers of our nation ! 

Jesus Christ commanded his followers to " resist not evil."|l 
American Slavery was an evil. Abolitionists opposed it to 
such an extent that the "war was carried into Africa." 

Jesus Christ commanded that " Whosoever shall smite " a 
person on the cheek, the smitten one must turn the other to 

* Mat. v: 32. f Mat. xix ; 9. X Mark x: 11, 12. 
§ Luke xvi : 18. || Mat. v : 39. 



SHALL WE ELECT JESUS? 223 

be slapped, and not return the salute. The Southern Rebel- 
lion would have triumphed under such a " let alone " policy. 

" Give to him that asketh thee."* Highway robbers would 
prosper by that command ; for it is not predicated on the 
supposition that there would be none to ask. A community 
formed upon such a plan would be a society of "dead 
beats, "t There could be no common defence. Unresisting 
millions would become the easy prey of human vultures. 
Society could have no protection. In the nature of things 
the aggressors would increase until anarchy would reign. 
Forcible resistance to tyranny, or any other " evil," is better. 

It is a favorite expression with Christians, that " Infidels 
only read the Bible to find fault with it, to pick flaws. Why 
do they not speak of the good and beautiful things in the 
Bible, and in the teachings of our Lord and Savior.? Why 
not say something about the beatitudes as contained in 
Matthew ? " 

So far as I am aware Liberalists read the Bible as they 
would any other book, to get at the truth in it. The most 
effective way to secure this result is to pick flaws. If a 
shrewd business man is about to purchase a fine estate he is 
very careful to examine the title deed. Sometimes a single 
flaw is enough to condemn the whole. Christians profess to 
believe that the Bible is the title deed of an Eternal Inheri- 
tance ; that it is perfect, faultless, absolutely without a flaw ! 
Why should they be so timid about having people seek for 
flaws in a document which they say has none ? As the 
inheritance, of which it is claimed the Bible is a title deed, 
is of so much greater value than an earthly estate, we ought 
to scrutinize it more closely than any deed of merely earthly 
value. I will now proceed to the "Beatitudes," which have 
been so inordinately praised in all ages of the Christian 

* Mat. V : 42. 

f See Robert Laird Collier's Reply to Mrs. Elizabeth C. Stanton. He 
is my authority for the use of this classical phrase. The language of the 
clergy is a model of elegance ! 



224 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

church. Of what practical value is this "Sermon on the 
Mount ? " Does it make human duty plain ? Does it leave, 
as Christians claim, nothing in doubt ? 

"And he opened his mouth, and taught them." What did 
he teach ? But before we proceed with the instruction I will 
inquire if he could have orally addressed the multitude 
unless " he opened his mouth ? " Are not those words, then, 
unnecessary ? Attention : 

" Blessed are the poor in spirit ; for their's is the kingdom 
of heaven." 

Is that so plain that " wayfaring men, though fools, shall 
not err therein .'*" * There is disagreement about the true 
reading of the passage, which indeed may be said of nearly 
every passage in the book. " Blessed are the J^oor " is the 
way it should read, say some. The words " in spirit " they 
think is an interpolation. These words are omitted in Luke 
vi: 20. How is the rendering to be decided ? If it should 
be settled that the proper version is " Blessed are the poor in 
sp'ri'f," does it mean poor-spirited people are blessed? and 
the ricA m spirit are not blessed } If it is voted that Luke 
is right and that it means " Blessed are the poor," are people 
who are without home and friends ; out in the desolate world, 
without an}^thing to eat, and no money to buy, and nothing^ 
to do, are they blessed .'' Or, if the teaching is to be taken 
not literally but spiritually, who are the poor? Is it meek, 
spiritless people who are meant ? Were the Puritans meek ? 
Were they inoffensive ? Was Peter meek ? Was he blessed ? 
Was Judas poor in spirit when he returned the thirty pieces 
of silver? Was he poor when he hanged himself? Was he 
" blessed '' when he hanged himself ? 

" Blessed are they that mourn." 

We are told this means those are blessed who mourn on 
account of their sins. Judas mourned on account of his 

* Isaiah 35 : 8. 



SHALL WE ELECT JESUS? 225: 

sins. Was he blessed ? Jesus Christ says, " It had been 
good for that man if he had not been born." But the passage 
teaches that mourners are blessed. It makes no distinctions 
nor exceptions. 

" Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth." 

All but that. Eighteen hundred years have rolled around 
since the utterance, and the 7neek are in the background yet. 
A father would give his son bad advice who should instruct 
him to be " meek," " passive," instead of manly and indepen-. 
dent and courteous. 

" Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after right- 
eousness : for they shall be filled." 

After they are "filled" will they be hungry and thirsty.? 
If not will they be blessed .? Or will misery then begin } 
The Bible does not explain. 

"Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy." 

No exception is made. Do the merciful always obtain 
mercy .? If they sometimes obtain it, do not the unmerciful 
secure it likewise 1 

*' Blessed are the pure in heart : for they shall see God." 

Do very young children see God } If people are about 
half-and-half will they have the same privilege which Moses 
had when he saw God's "back parts."* Rev. Robert Collyer 
will "rise to explain. "f 

" Blessed are the peace-makers : for they shall be called 
the children of God." 

* Ex. xxxiii : 23. 

\ Mr. Collyer is a distinguished Unitarian clergyman in Chicago. He 
is well known as the " poet preacher," and is too sensible and too patri- 
otic to favor union of Church and State. He is one of the most humor- 
ous divines of the age, "While on a visit to England he addressed a 
concourse of people, taking for his text this to which I refer. 
15 



226 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

Were " Copperheads " * blessed ? Were they called the 
children of God ? 

*' Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' 
sake : for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 

" Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and persecute 
you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for 
my sake." 

When church-members persecute each other vigorously is 
this why they "rejoice " and are "exceeding glad.?"t Were 
Quakers blessed when Puritans bored their tongues through 
with red-hot irons } Was it a blessing to the Huguenots when, 
they were driven from their homes } Is this why the recog- 
nition of God in the United States Constitution is demanded, 
so that Christians can make each other mutually happy 
and send Infidels to glory.? 

According to Luke, Jesus taught, " Woe unto you, when 
all men shall speak well of you." What is the meaning of it} 
It contradicts "God's Word," "A good name is rather to be 
chosen than great riches, and loving favor rather than silver 
and gold. "J "A good name is better than precious oint- 
ment." § Can the Bible-believer tell whether it is desirable 
to have mankind speak well of one.-* There are opposing 
declarations. Who can answer.'* 

Jesus taught this meaningless doctrine : " That which h 
highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight oi 
God." II Such a sentiment is either meaningless or per- 
nicious. A man highly esteems his wife, we will suppose, or 
a wife her husband ; therefore, the highly esteemed wife or 
husband is an abomination in the sight of God ! 

Here is another principle which we can readily believe 
many politicians have committed to memory : " I say unto 
you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unright- 

* A term of reproach applied to Northern sympathizers with the 
Southern rebellion against the American Union, and who clamored for 
" peace on any terms." 

f Mat. V. X Prov. xxii : I. § Ec. vii : i. \ Luke xvi : 15. 



SHALL WE ELECT JESUS? 227 

^^ousness ; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into 
everlasting habitations."* Jesuits have been repeatedly 
charged with carrying that maxim into practice. 

Worse than all he taught hatred to kindred : " If any man 
come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, 
and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life 
also, he cannot be my disciple. "f Ministers interpret the 
word "hate " to mean a "less degree of love." They thus 
admit that as it reads it is a doctrine repugnant to the noblest 
instincts of human nature. But they give no proof that it 
means love in any degree. There is proof to the contrary : 
" Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth ? I tell 
you. Nay ; but rather division : for from henceforth there shall 
be five in one house divided, three against two, and two 
against three. The father shall be divided against the son, 
and the son against the father ; the mother against the daugh- 
ter, and the daughter against the mother ; the mother in law 
against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against 
her mother in law." J It would not be easy to give a more 
accurate picture of a domestic pandemonium. 

In another part of the record he is represented as saying 
that he came to set relatives at variance, one against the 
other, and that "a man's foes shall be they of his own house- 
hold."! Such teaching carried into the family, and into 
government would be destructive of both. 

But the ministers say the word "hate" does not mean 
fiate. They give no proof that it does not. There is proof 
to the contrary. " Then shall they deliver you up to be 
iiffiicted, and shall h'// you : and ye shall be /zafed of all 
aations for my name's sake." II "If the world /tafe you ye 
know that it Aaled me before it hated you." How would it 
iound with a minister's interpretation, "a less degree of love." 

" If the world loved you less^ ye know that it loved me less 
before it loved you less ! " 

* Luke xvi : 9. f Luke xiv: 26. \ Luke xii: 51, 52, 53. 
§ Mat. X : 35, 36. I Mat. xxiv : 9. 



228 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

The principles taught by Jesus Christ are not sufficiently- 
practical for this world, neither are they good enough as a 
whole. His election would be a sham. Thousands are sin- 
cere in sustaining the sham. This is not questioned. Elect 
Jesus, and Christians, lusting for political power, would rule 
in his name 



XIII. 

THE RICH CHRISTIAN. 

Rich men suppose their wealth will be no barrier to an 
entrance into heaven. But the New Testament teaches that 
the rich man is doomed to experience the tortures of hell. 
Christians read and interpret the book in such a way that 
wealth makes no difference in heavenly eligibility. Duty is 
not made plain by the Bible? It is rendered uncertain.!* 
Common sense and daily experience are against the Bible. 
It makes plain scarcely anything relating to daily life. It 
mystifies the mind, and stultifies reason. Suppose a soul is 
seeking for light in regard to the daily practical duties of life. 
It is directed to the Bible as the highest standard on earth. 
First, it desires to know what is right about acquiring wealth. 
The Old Testament, as a whole, favors the accumulation of 
riches; teaches that riches are a blessing. But Jesus Christ 
taught an opposite doctrine. He taught tha-t J^over^y on earth 
is essential to secure happiness in the future world. " Where 
your treasure is, there will your heart be also "* 

It may be objected that this does not imply that the fol- 
lower of Jesus should not engage in trade and lay by the 
accumulations of honest toil. 

" Indeed," says the Christian, " I have always understood 
Christ's sayings on the subject of riches to mean that we 
should not become inordinately wealthy, not to put our trust 
in riches instead of in God, the Giver of all our blessings. 
Christ said, 'your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have 

* Mat. vi: 21. 



230 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

'need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of 
God, and his righteousness ; and all these things shall be 
added unto you.' " 

This is the usual style of Christian argument upon this 
subject, which amounts to a confession on their part that 
poverty is undesirable. They have put a meaning into the 
New Testament which harmonizes with the plain dictates of 
common sense. But they can get no such meaning in refer- 
ence to riches out of it. What is it to seek first the " kingdom 
of God.?" Some say one thing, some another. Some 
suppose that it is to "get religion" very young; others that 
it means to join a popular Orthodox church just before going 
into business, and the church-members will patronize them; 
others that it means to help build churches and support 
ministers even without becoming a member of any church. 
The Bible itself does not explain it. We get no instruction 
from the words. 

" But," we are told with renewed emphasis, "it must mean 
building up the church of God on earth." If it does mean 
that, Where is the "church of God.?" 

If it means any Christian church then the seeker after the 
kingdom joins the Catholic 

"Oh, no," breaks in the Protestant, "not the Catholic 
church; that is a false church." 

Very well. He joins the Universalist church. 

" That will not do ! " exclaim the Evangelicals. 

Oh, then, you really mean "our church." The kingdom 
of God is found ! " Our church ! " It is sought and found. 
Then what .? The promise is that things to eat, drink and 
to wear, will be added. How .? Here is the interesting point 
in the search ! How, Christians .? They answer, " Why, by 
industry, economy, business sagacity." After thirty years 
close attention to business the Christian retires therefrom 
with a fortune. I say to him, 

" My friend, you have here a beautiful estate, an imposing 
residence, comforts in almost every form surround you." 

'■ Oh, yes, I am content with my treasure." 



THE RICH CHRISTIAN. 231- 

■ " But how can you reconcile this with the teachings of 
Jesus Christ, 'Where your treasure is there will your heart 
be also ? ' " 

"Easily enough. I first sought the 'kingdom of God, 
and his righteousness ; and all these things ' have been added 
unto me." 

" Ah ! I presume it has been by an active life of severe 
toil that you have prospered. But judging from your serene 
disposition you probably encountered but few obstacles to 
success, and overcame them all without anxiety as to your 
final triumph." 

' Beg your pardon, sir, in that estimate you are quite mis- 
taken. But few men have encountered more serious obstacles 
to success than myself. By devotion to business, working 
early and late, I achieved success where thousands fail. But 
then, I give God the glory, praise his name ! " 

"Trusting so implicitly in ' Providence' you felt assured 
of victory, so have had but little anxiety." 

" Ah, my dear sir, no man can succeed in life without 
forethought, care, and often much anxiety of mind as to 
results of business ventures." 

" Jesus Christ taught that where your treasure is there will 
be your heart. Your heart is delighted with these treasures 
by which you are surrounded." 

"These are as dross compared with the treasure stored in 
heaven for all who love the Lord." 

" This world may be denominated full of vanity, and this 
magnificent estate of yours may be called dross,' but now, 
■candidly, do you not love these possessions } " 

" Certainly, certainly, but I love the Lord more than these. 
Jesus by the sea-side said to Peter, as related so exquisitely 
by the beloved John, ' Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me 
more than these } ' There is nothing sinful in a proper use 
of wealth. It is the love of money' — the undue love of 
money — that *is the root of all evil.'"* 

" The passage reads the ' love of money is the root of all 

* I Tim. vi: 10. 



232 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

evil.' Says nothing about 'undue' love. Now, my good 
friend, do you not love money? I do not say it is wrong 
that we should value earthly possessions. I believe we 
should place a just estimate upon them. But your New Tes- 
tament prohibits it, and the so-called founder of your 
Christian religion held these blessings in utter contempt." 

" I am astonished at your language. Jesus represents that 
his heavenly Father would add all these things unto the 
believer. Does that look as if he held earthly possessions 
in * utter contempt.^ ' " 

" Jesus taught that his heavenly Father would do this. He 
advised his disciples to take no thought for the morrow.' " 

" He meant no anxious thought, that is clearly the mean- 
ing of the text." 

"If that is the meaning, why does the text not say what 
is meant.? How can we judge of an author's meaning except 
by his words ? Jesus says, ' By thy words thou shalt be 
justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.' I 
will apply his own rule to his own words." 

" Still, we need to exercise reason, and from the general 
tenor or context, decide as to what an author does mean." 

" That is judging his ideas by his words. We have no 
right to put words into an author's mouth that he did not 
utter." 

" But it is unreasonable to suppose a man can live in this 
world without thought for the morrow. We could devise no 
plans and make no arrangements beyond the present day. 
No man could succeed in business upon any such theory." 

" I agree with you in this, perfectly. The book, however, 
represents that Jesus taught just this doctrine which you say 
is 'unreasonable.' " 

" It is not consistent to suppose that our Lord and Savior 
ever meant any such thing as that we should absolutely take 
no thought for the morrow." 

" Oh, if you wish to put your own reason in place of Jesus 
Christ's words I have no objection. I think, sir, it would be 
an improvement upon much that he said. I beg to remind 



THE RICH CHRISTIAN. 233 

you that we are discussing what he said^ not what you hold 
to be reasonable, and what you think he ought to have said. 
But we will suppose for your accommodation that he said 
'Take no' anxious 'thought for the morrow.' You have 
admitted to me that you have taken much anxious thought. 
You have consequently broken the commandment even with • 
your amendment." 

" I must say, sir, that I had not viewed it in this light 
heretofore. But I think the Bible should be taken in all its 
connections. We should compare Bible with Bible. Then 
there will be no inconsistency, but a beautiful harmony. 
Paul advised that we should not be 'slothful in business."* 

" I believe, too, that we should quote an author's words as 
not to do him injustice. You have several writers of the 
Bible whose utterances you assume come from one mind 
alo7ie incapable of error. We compare the Bible with Bible, 
and we are straightway charged with picking out here and 
there passages that suit our views. If we quote passages 
from a single author and make him responsible for his own 
sayings we are then censured for not taking texts ' here and 
there.' The question now is what did Jesus teach, not what 
Paul taught, in regard to the practical affairs of this life } " 

" If he taught that we should make no provision for the 
future, how can you explain this, ' For your heavenly Father 
knoweth that ye have need of all these things.' Do you 
mean to say that Jesus had not common sense .? " 

" Very true, Jesus claimed that his father knew that people 
need clothes, and edibles. In fact, you remember the 
account where the ' Lord God ' is said to have made suits for 
Adam and Eve.* Probably Jesus had this circumstance in 
his mind's eye when he said, ' Why take ye thought for 
raiment .^ ' Such a conundrum can be readily answered. 
Nakedness would ensue if they did not. Faith is at a heavy 
discount in the provision and clothing business ! " 

" Faith in God does not imply that we should do nothing 
for ourselves. We are to perform our work, all that lies 

* Gen. iii : 21. 



234 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

within our power, then after we have done our best, leave 
the consequences to Him. We need have no fear but He 
will do His part. God ' is able to do exceeding abundantly 
above all that we ask or think, according to the power that 
worketh in us.' " * 

" The ' faith ' which Jesus taught did imply that his follow- 
ers should take no thought for the morrow, no thought for 
raiment. After asking his disciples why they took thought 
for raiment he says, Shall he [God] not much more clothe 
you, O ye of little faith } \ Would it not be a good plan to 
try a spell of faith just for one suit of linsey woolsey.? " 

" My friend, I do not think you ought to make light of 
sacred matters. God employs human instrumentalities to 
carry out his will." 

" Did he when Adam and Eve were furnished suits from 
the heavenly tailor shop } Never mind my little dashes at 
jokes. They are like some Christians' prayers. I mean 
nothing by them. It is a poor religion that cannot stand a 
little humor. 

"If our Savior meant that we should have no earthly 
possessions why di.d he say, first seek the kingdom of heaven, 
and then they would be added ? Why did he say that those 
who would forsake all for him would receive a hundredfold ? " 

" You do not believe that they are to receive a hundred- 
fold in this life .? " 

" So reads God's word." 

" Is not that incredible 7 " 

" It is God's promise." 

" Do you believe any such thing } " 

" I believe what the Bible tells me." 

" Look at it. It declares that every one that followed him 
and had forsaken houses, lands and friends would receive a 
hundredfold. It could not mean in this world, because 
Jesus Christ is represented by Matthew as saying ' ye which 
have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man 
shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon 

* Eph. iii : 20. f Mat. vi : 30. 



THE RICH CHRISTIAN. 235 

twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. ' ^' They 
were to forsake all on earth in order to obtain heavenly 
treasure." 

" I do not understand that the followers of Christ were to 
abandon all earthly comforts. The Scriptures do not so 
teach. David said ' Those that wait upon the Lord, they 
shall inherit the earth.' Our Savior said, 'There is no man 
that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or 
mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the 
gospel's, but he shall receive a hundredfold, noiv in this 
iime^ houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and 
children, and lands, with persecutions ; and in. the world to 
^•^;;/^ eternal life.' f Remember God's servant, Job. 'The 
Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before,' | and he 
* blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning.' " 

" I expected you to quote Marks account of Jesus' teach- 
ing on the property question. I can now easily show the 
inconsistency of the teaching. It states that a man who has 
left a house shall receive a hundred houses " — 

" It does not say so. He shall receive a hundredfold in 
being blessed, not that he shall have a hundred houses. That 
would be preposterous ! 

"But the text you have quoted says 'houses.' It says 
brethren — a hundredfold — a hundred brethren " — 

"Ah! 'brethren,' not after the flesh, but brethren in the 
Lord." 

"It does not say so. It says, also, whoever forsakes 
mother for ' Christ's sake ' shall receive a hundredfold of 
mothers. Are they mothers ' in the Lord ' 1 It says whoever 
leaves a wife for * Christ's sake ' shall receive a hundredfold 
— a himdred wives — polygamy ! Mormonism ! taught by 
Jesus Christ ! It ' — 

" Hold ! my friend, can you be sane to imagine that the 
Lord Jesus ever taught any such doctrine "i He does not 
mention the word ' wife * in his enumeration of the hundred- 
fold. The word wife is omitted!" 

* Mat. xix : 28. f Mark x : 29, 30. % Job xlii : la 



236 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

" There is nothing to show that the author intended to 
repeat every detail. He not only omits the word ' wife ' but 
the word ^father' Would it not be as practicable to have a 
hundred fathers ' in the Lord ' as a hundred mothers .? 
Matthew omits to enumerate any of those words." 

" It appears to me that no reasonable man could think 
that Our Lord taught that if we left all for his sake that we 
would have a hundred times as much in kind." 

" I quoted Matthew to show that the hundredfold treasure 
was to be in the next world, but as you had in mind that 
earthly wealth should be possessed by Christians as well as 
by others you opposed that view. You quoted David to 
prove that those who are the Lord's will inherit the earth. 
If every person could have the assurance that by first seek- 
ing the kingdom of God, and forsaking a farm or a house, 
that a hundred nouses or farms would be added, there would 
be a general investment in heavenly estate ! Christians are 
no more prosperous than Infidels, than Mohammedans, than 
Japanese in worldly possessions." 

" Many of the teachings of the Lord were applicable to his 
immediate disciples only. They could have no reference to 
our time. His parting injunction to his disciples was to go 
and ' teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the 
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. * Why not 
read the Bible with as much allowance as you would any 
other book.? It is not consistent to believe we are bound by 
all that he taught his disciples. He commanded the77i to go 
and preach. Must we all turn preachers, therefore 1 Must 
we go to all nations ? Must we all baptize each other } " 

" Yes ! if your record is to be the criterion. You forgot 
to quote the next clause of the injunction, 'Teaching ^/lem 
to observe a// things whatsoever I have commanded you' 
His object apparently was to convert the whole world in a 
short time to his religion. By making all, who could be con- 
verted, preachers, the whole race would have been baptized 
and claimed as his disciples long before this, especially if the 

* Mat. xxviii . 19 



THE RICH CHRISTIAN. 237 

'signs ' following the preaching had continued. Jesus 
Christ has no followers on earth ! He has millions of pro- 
fessed believers, but not one true follower." 

" Our Lord could not have expected us to keep all his 
sayings. Peter did not keep them, nor did the other disci- 
ples ; yet Jesus said to them, ' Ye also shall sit upon twelve 
thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.' No one has 
been able to keep the Golden Rule. Jesus died for us, and 
when we have done our best, and have repented of our sins, 
he graciously forgives us the balance. We are not to be 
saved by works, but by faith." 

" This is your Christian system as propounded by some of 
the apostles and their disciples. Jesus Christ taught that 
* whosoever shall break one of these least commandments, 
and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the 
kingdom of heaven : but whosoever shall do and teach them, 
the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.' * 
If those who commit a crime can be forgiven, and gain 
heaven as easily as if it had not been committed, provided 
they repent, are sorry then Judas who betrayed and repented 
is sitting on one of those 'twelve thrones.' He was one 
among those who were promised a judgeship in heaven." 

" I have faith in Jesus to wash my sins away. I will love 
and trust him to the end." 

" Your Jesus says, ' He that hath my commandments, and 
keepeth them, he it is that loveth me.' f Do you keep them .? " 

" No human being is able to keep them all. He would be 
perfect if he lived out all the rules he taught." 

" He would be very imperfect. But as you confess that 
you do not and cannot keep his commandments you are not 
a follower of his. He said, ' If ye love me, keep my com- 
mandments.' ]; 'He that loveth me not keepeth not my 
sayings.' § John bears testimony to this view of the case. 
He says, * Hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep 

* Mat. v. 19. f John xiv: 21. 

\ John xiv: 15. § John xiv: 24. 



1-38 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

his coni7?iandnients'* James says, ' Whosoever shall keep the 
whole law, and yet offend in one pointy he is guilty of all.' \ 
To place the matter beyond all dispute, that it is not sufficient 
to say a person believes in Jesus in order to be a follower of 
his, John says, ' He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not 
his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.' "| 

" But if a man lived out the sayings of Our Lord, would 
he not be perfect 1 You admit that they are so immeasura- 
bly beyond our reach that no man could keep them all ! 
That is a singular objection against his teachings, that they 
are so good no man is able to reduce them to practical life ! 
I did not suppose it was anything against the Golden Rule 
because no one has actualized it " 

" I did not even seem to admit his teachings are so good 
that it is impossible to keep them, but because they are im- 
practicable, and would be detrimental to any person who 
obeyed them all " 

" Really that is remarkable ! His teachings so bad that no 
one can successfully reduce them to practice. I was not 
aware that the practice of vice was so difficult an art ! " 

" This is another mistake which you Christians make. 
You always bedeck the ' Road to Ruin ' with flowers, repre- 
sent the practice of Virtue as a thorny path, and obedience 
to natural law an impossibility." 

" Proceed with your discourse. I am interested." 

'' I will do so with pleasure. My theme is ' The teachings 
of Jesus Christ on Poverty and Riches.' 

" A rich Christian cannot enter the kingdom of Heaven. 
You need not smile. It is the teaching of your Bible. I 
think you will not take it as an affront if I makej^^/^ a living 
illustration of my subject on the side of a well-earned 
fortune." 

" You highly honor me." 

"Jesus taught that ' no man can serve two masters,' *can 
not serve God and mammon.' § As there are but few 

* I John ii : 3. f James ii: 10. 

X I John ii : 4. § Mat. vi : 24. 



THE RICH CHRISTIAN. 239 

drunkards who will confess that their appetite for strong 
drink is their master, so there are but few, if any, rich Chris- 
tians who will admit that wealth, or mammon, is theirs. 
They may each own a million dollars. It is all the same. 
They construe, ' Where your treasure is there will your heart 
be also,' into ' get as rich as you can ' — but call it ' dross ' 
and you are safe. They read the words of their ' Lord and 
Master,' ' Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, 
where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break 
through and steal.'* 

" The inference was that if there were no earthly treasures, 
if everybody was poor, thieves would have poor picking. 

" ' But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where 
neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves doth 
not break through nor steal.' " 

"O! this means that we are not to become inordinately 
wealthy, so as to lead our minds away from God." 

" Why does it not say so, then } The teachings ct^ntained 
in other portions of the Testament prove that it means no 
treasures should be possessed upon earth. Christians, as a 
rule, practically do not believe in the injunction to remain 
poor. If the teaching was that fifty per cent, of treasure 
could be laid up in heaven and the balance on earth, the rich 
Christian would be free from an uncomfortable dilemma. 
The teaching is plain enough that the treasure must be either 
in heaven or on the earth, not divided and deposited in both 
places. When that very rich ruler came to him, and claimed 
to have kept every commandment which he enumerated, he 
then said to him, ' Sell all thou hast, and distribute unto the 
poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven : and come, 
follow me.'t The young gentleman seemed to prefer pres- 
ent wealth to prospective bliss ' Did what nine hundred 
and ninety-nine out of a thousand Christians of the present 
day would do under similar circumstances. Every follower 
of Jesus is bound by this command to sell all his, or her, 
earthly possessions and distribute to the poor. Who are the 

* Mat. vi : 19. f Luke xviii ; 22. 



240 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

followers of Jesus ? ' Not every one that saith unto me, 
Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven ; but he 
that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.'* 
* Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them,'t 
was compared to a wise man. One saying was to sell and 
give away earthly possessions in order to secure heavenly 
treasure. Such a precept, I readily grant, is opposed to the 
plain dictates of common sense. It would reduce society to 
a state of universal mendicancy. 

" To make this still more clearly seen, look at these com- 
mandments and maxims : ' Take no thought for your life, 
what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink ; nor yet for your 
body, what ye shall put on.' "Behold the fowls of the air: 
for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns ; 
yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much 
better than they .^ ' % 

"What a lazy, rollicking world this would be if such 
elements of shiftlessness were reduced to practice. The 
North American Indians, and savages in other parts of the 
world, come very near practicing such preaching — and this 
is one of the principal reasons why they are savages. Those 
of them who become susceptible to the influences of civili- 
zation do take 'thought for the morrow,' while in their 
barbarous state they let ' the morrow ' ' take thought for the 
things of itself.' 

" The logical inference of these teachings of the founder 
of Christianity is, that as God feeds fowls, which neither sow, 
nor reap, nor gather into barns, so if men, who are ' much 
better than they,' would not sow, nor reap, God would feed 
them ! 

" It is not good reasoning to say. Inasmuch as we cannot 
add a cubit to our stature by forethought, therefore we can- 
not benefit ourselves by making provision for the future ! 
Because lilies 'toil not, neither do they spin,' is no reason 
why men and women should not work. 

" ' Therefore take no thought, saying. What shall we eat .'* 

* Mat. vii: 21. f Mat. vii: 24. % Mat. vi : 25, 26, 



THE RICH CHRISTIAN. 24I 

or, What shall we drink ? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed ? 
(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek: )' — 

" Which shows their good sense, and accounts for their 
energy, prosperity, civilization, all of which, without the 
least proof, Christians claim as the result of their master's 
teachings. The Gentiles have adhered faithfully to their old 
habit of caring more for the things of this world than for an 
investment in heavenly stock. Result : Thrift, Energy, 
Progress, Art, Science, Invention ; prosperous towns, vil- 
lages, cities, railroads, telegraphs, etc., etc., etc., not one of 
which could have existed if the maxims of Jesus Christ had 
been obeyed. Good for the Gentiles ! The followers of 
Jesus — if he has any — have wheeled into line, and are 
helping the Gentiles to answer the questions, ' What shall 
we eat 1 Wherewithal shall we be clothed 1 ' Very import- 
ant problems in this life, the practical solution of which 
determines a large share of the happiness or misery of 
mankind. The maxims of Jesus Christ would reduce us to 
poz'erly. He gave the poor the kingdom of God, merely 
because they were poor ; and pronounced woe upon the rich 
simply because they were rich. ' Blessed be ye poor : for 
yours is the kingdom of God. ' * ' But woe unto you that 
are rich ! for you have received your consolation.' f Even 
in his parables he expressed the same thought : assigned 
Lazarus a snug place in Abraham's bosom, and gave the rich 
man hell, where the climate seemed to be very warm and 
dry. He was reminded that in his lifetime he received his 
good things, and Lazarus evil things, ' but now he is com- 
forted, and thou art tormented.' From this teaching we 
are to understand that people who are rich on earth will go 
to hell. It is not said the rich man went to hell because he 
was wicked, but because he received " good things.' No 
other reason given why Lazarus should receive comfort than 
that he had been poor, a beggar, received ' evil things.' Such 
a doctrine has a tendency to paralyze the best energies of 

* Luke vi: 20. -j Luke vi: 24. 

16 



242 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

the human soul ; and saps industry, without which there 
could be no civilization. 

" Jesus Christ despised wealth, which proves him to have 
been no philosopher. It is not questioned that wealth, like 
any other blessing may be perverted to evil purposes ; but 
poverty, the system which he recommended, is an unmitiga- 
ted curse to the race. The teaching of Dr. Samuel Johnson 
on this subject is much better. ' Resolve not to be poor. 
Whatever you have, spend less. Poverty is an enemy to 
human happiness. It often destroys liberty, makes some 
virtues difficult, and some impracticable.' 

" Robert Bonner and Henry Ward Beecher profess Jesus 
and practice Johnson. That camel of which Bonner gave an 
illustration in his Ledger^ on its knees, getting through the 
' Needle's eye,' after it had been divested of its load of 
wealth, would have been a source of greater comfort to rich 
Christians if the text had said ^loaded camel.' 

" No admittance for rich men ! Such was the teaching of 
the Christian founder with reference to heaven ; while, on 
the other hand, he taught what would justify this inscription 
over the heavenly gate : Beggars' Safe Retreat! 

" ' It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a 
needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of 
God.' * It is not strange that the disciples were ' exceedingly 
amazed,' and at once inquired, ' Who then can be saved .'''f 
Why this amazement if Jesus Christ meant by the ' eye of a 
needle ' the gateway of a city wall .^ He meant no such thing, 
else why should he say, 'With men this is impossible.' J 
The subsequent phrase, ' with God all things are possible ' is 
no solution of the matter, unless it is made to mean a contra- 
diction of all he had previously uttered upon the subject. 
But is it possible for a personal God to annihilate himself, or 
destroy a single particle of matter .? Is it possible for God 
to lie .? § I am thus minute because the clergy interpret 
these passages on riches as to allow rich men an entrance 

* Mat. xix : 24. f Mat. xix : 25. 

X Mat. xix: 26. § Heb. vi : 18. 



THE RICH CHRISTIAN. 243 

into heaven — and itito their churches — in direct opposition 
to the emphatic declarations of their master to the contrary* 
that heaven was not to be their future abode. 

" To show that when he advised seUing all earthly posses- 
sions and distributing to the poor, in order to have treasure 
in heaven, he was understood to mean just what he said, I 
will refer to the early believers who 'had all things common : 
afid sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all 
men, as every man had need.' * 

" After the declaration that it was as impossible for a rich 
man to enter into heaven as for a camel to go through a 
needle's eye, Peter said, ' Behold, we have forsaken all, and 
followed thee ; what shall we have therefore ? ' They had 
forsaken houses, lands, kindred, even wives and children. 
This their master commended. \ In as forcible terms as 
language would allow, he indicated Avho could not be his 
disciples ; ' whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all 
that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.' " | 

" Such commandments are not binding upon us." 

" What commands are binding, and how do you determine 
what are and are not in force .'' " 

"I think such discussion is unprofitable. It tends to 
weaken one's faith in God's Word." 

"Discussion is tmprofitable — to error, never to truth." 

"I shall trust in God." 

" And let the poor starve." 

" If we divided with them the majority would be beggars 
in less than a week. In the divine economy ' the poor,' as 
our Savior said, ' always ye have with you.' " 

" That doctrine has helped to make the rich deaf to the 
cries of the poor, and kept the laboring man in the tread- 
mill of poorly paid toil." 

"This subject has become painful to me. You will oblige 
me by discontinuing your remarks." 

" Nay, I would not wound you, but if you devote your 
surplus to the ignorant and degraded instead of supporting 
pampered ministers, and building gorgeous temples for God, 
your wealth would prove a blessing, not only to yourself, but 
thousands who are now paupers would be made self-helpful." 

* Acts ii: 44, 45. f Mat. xix: 29. % Luke xiv ; 33. 



XIV. 



" O, ye wha are sae guid yoursel 
Sae pious and sae holy." 

— Selected. 

" Who shall the Lord's elect condemn > 

' Tis God that justifies their souls ; 

And mercy like a mighty stream, 

O'er all their sins divinely rolls." 

— Watts. 

The Clergy say they want none but holy men to rule this 
land. They inform us this is God's wish. They know what 
his wishes are. To be informed of God's plans is a clerical 
prerogative. Says Rev. T. P. Stevenson, " God holds the 
nation responsible for the acts of its government." It is a. 
peculiarity which these gentlemen have of reporting their 
familiar interviews with God. 

Says the Church Union, May 2, 1869, "We want to 
enlist in the interest of the State the sanctified intellect and 
conscience of our country, now so thoroughly alienated. If 
we are Christians, let us make no hypocritical pretension of 
founding our government on Christian principles." It said 
further, " Let no one hold an ofitce of trust or profit whose 
life has 7iot been conformable thereto y 

Mr. Iredell in the South Carolina Legislature said, " It is 
never to be supposed that the people of America will trust 
their dearest interests with persons of no religion or of a 
religion materially different from their own."* 

■* Christian States77ian, March I, 1872. 



THE SANCTIFIED. 245 

Theophilus Parsons, afterward Chief Justice, declared in 
the Massachusetts Convention, "No man can wish more 
ardently than I do that all our public offices may be filled by 
men who fear God and hate wickedness." * 

In the same Convention Rev. Mr. Shute, a Congregational 
clergymen said, " The presumption is that the eyes of the 
people will be upon the faithful in the land, [Christians, of 
course] and from a regard to their own safety they will 
choose for their rulers [Christians] men of known abilities, 
of known probity and of good moral character." * 

" Government in the hands of men who fear not God is 
like a ship in the hands of blind men, who can see neither 
compass or beacon, sun or stars." f 

He clinches his argument in favor of none but " Godly 
men " for office, by Bible texts : " Thou shalt provide out 
of all the people able men, such as fear God.'' " He that 
ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God.'' 
The Christian's duty is plain in this case, he should never 
vote for an Infidel, however moral ! 

Says the Christian Statesman^ " Civil office should be 
restricted by Constitutional enactment to men in sympathy 
with the great ends of government." 

Says Rev. J. S. T. Milligan, " Senators *** and representa- 
tives. * * * * members of the State legislatures and all 
executive and judicial officers, both of the United States 
and of the several States, shall be just men, fearers of God 
and haters of covetousness." 

Such are the claims. When the new Christian party is 
fairly before the country as a religious-political organization, 
the anti-Christian papers will remember the saintliness of the 
Clergy. The number of cases which I have gathered of the 
" godly " acts of the " holy servants " of the Most High are 
voluminous enough to fill two such volumes as this. Indeed 

* Christian Statesman, March I, 1872. 

\ Rev. T. P. Stevenson in Cincinnati Convention, held January ji 
and February i, 1872. 



246 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

it would require but a brief search to make a " Clerical 
Scandal Index " of five hundred pages ! I take no pleasure 
in parading before the world the defects of human nature. 
But when the Clergy are constantly setting themselves up as 
better than other men, thanking God that they are " not as 
other men are," mourning over the wickedness of this sinful 
world, to which the court records, police gazettes, daily press 
and general observation show they contribute more than 
their share of crime, it is proper that some attention should 
be paid to them. It may not be flattering to their vanity to 
receive such attention, but truth requires it. Who are the 
" holy men } " The daily press conveys this information 

Rev. Wesley of Geneseo, 111., ran away with another man's 
wife. 

Rev. Packard (Presbyterian,) shut his wife in an Insane 
Asylum for years because she did not believe that the 
majority, or any portion of the race would be eternally 
damned! Mrs. E. P. AV. Packard is a lady whose character 
is above suspicion. The history of her incarceration was 
published in the daily papers at the time of her trial on the 
question of her sanity. 

The Peoria (111.,). Transcript^ January 20, 1868, contains 
an account of Rev. Craig of El Paso, 111., guilty of crim. con. 
with a lady of that place. 

The Detroit Free Press notices a clerical rascal who 
eloped with Mrs. Morehouse. She was said to have been a 
"highly respected lady." The Reverend gentleman left a 
note for his clerical successor, stating that he had deserted 
his wife and family for " reasons best known to himself, and 
that cherishing the wife he had now selected, he should 
resume preaching " in the far West ; that he would be an 
" exemplary Christian " and hoped " to meet all his former 
friends in heaven ! " Bless Jesus ! 

" ' Twas he that cleansed our foulest sins 
And washed us in his richest blood." 

— Waits. 



THE SANCTIFIED. 247 

The Jackson Sentinel, (Maquoketa, Iowa,) several years 
ago stated that there were grossly exaggerated reports about 
Rev. H. D. Fields, pastor of the Baptist Church of Maquo- 
keta trying to commit suicide. " Out of deference to the 
wishes of the Reverend gentleman' s congregation " the matter 
was passed in silence by the local press. There are many 
transactions in the church which are carefully concealed. 

For instance, this item was published in many papers. " A 
Preacher Off the Track. Cincinnati, Jan. ii. — The village 
of Milford, 14 miles east of this city, was thrown into a fever 
of excitement on Friday evening last by the discovery of a 
criminal intimacy between Rev. S. J. Bartlett, of the Metho- 
dist Episcopal Church, and the wife of one of our citizens, 
whose 7ia?ne the knowifig ones will 7iot divulge. The naughty 
parson is handsome and irresistible — the erring lady attrac- 
tive and childless." 

Ottumwa, Iowa, had a Reverend sensation, elopement of 
Dr. J. H. Flint and Mrs. E. Plank. Dr. Flint was a "popular 
and highly successful physician, a revered minister of the 
Gospel." Both parties " highly respectable " — astisual. All 
church members are highly respectable. 

During the trial of Rev. Linn, of Pittsburg, Pa., the Rev. 
Dr. McKinney, an aged Presbyterian, one of Rev. Linn's 
prosecutors is reported to have uttered the following in his 
argument : " He knew from pleasant experience, forty years 
ago that young ladies would struggle, even when they did 
not object to being kissed. They struggled that there might 
Tdc more hugging done." 



" The Lord, however, is glorifying himself by these 
things ! '" " 



" * 



When this new Christian party is fully equipped thousands 
of amusing incidents and practical jokes at the expense of 
the clergy will have a wide publication, the least harmful 
will be such as this, for which the Springfield (Mass.) Repub- 
lican is responsible : 

* North- Western Christian Advocate. 



248 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

" At a ministers' meeting not long ago, not many miles 
from this city, a discussion arose about some passage in the 
New Testament, but none of the clergymen present happened 
to have a Bible about him. At dinner another discussion 
over a bottle occurred, where a corkscrew was needed, and 
every man in the company had one in his pocket." 

The Baltimore Crucible^ of Oct. 14, 187 1, has the following : 

" SAINTLY SEDUCTION. 

■ " Still they come. Another case of clerical free-loveism 
has been unearthed in Decatur, Georgia. The Rev. Miriam 
D. Wood seduced Miss Emma J. Chivers, a young lady of 
high position and fine talents. The result is a ' bouncing 
boy ' that has no legal right to be here. The young gent is 
here illegally, and Hke ' Banquo s Ghost ' won't ' down. ' 
The parents feel worse than the child does over the matter. 
The minister and girl have both learned that ' ' tis human 
to err.' They now busy themselves trying to persuade the 
people that "tis divine to forgive.' Some of the people 
seem willing that it should be so, for they being human, will 
not forgive. 

"The Reverend Seducer is now under arrest, and it is 
feared the ' handsome minister with raven locks ' will have 
to serve the State in some other capacity than as a minister 

' We should say before closing this, that this case of 
seduction had long been a matter of prayer, and came in 
answer to prayer. Why not '' If God seduced a virgin, 
why not send his ministers to lead others astray } " — Moses 
Hull. 

ROBED RASCALITY. 

Another Dr. Huston in a Savaiinah Episcopal Pulpit. 

"About three years since Rev. Dr. J. M. Mitchell, of 
Maine, received a call to the rectorship of Christ church in 
this city. Dr. Mitchell entered upon the duties of his 
position with great zeal, and soon endeared himself to his 
flock. He was regarded as a pure, holy man, sincerely devo- 
ted to his good work, and as time rolled on increased in 
popularity." — Savannah Neivs., May 20^ 18^2. 

" He endeared himself to his flock ! " Most of them do. 



THE SANCTIFIED. 249 

These saintly shepherds dearly love the " little lambs." Here 
is what came of Dr. Mitchell's fondness for the pets : 

" Serious offences of the most cogent character as to startle 
every one. They were so clearly established as to com- 
pletely destroy all claim to innocence." — Savannah News. 

And then this " servant of the Lord " lied about it. The 
same paper states : 

" On Thursday evening he sent for Bishop Beckwith, and, 
in the face of his repeated denials, acknowledged his guilt, 
and offered in palliation of his grave crimes the excuse that 
he had been tempted and fallen." 

The News gives us the result : 

' " Yesterday morning during the service at Christ Church, 
Bishop Beckwith announced that it was his painful and sad 
duty to inform the congregation of the removal of Rev. Dr. 
J. M. Mitchell for gross immoral conduct, which he had con- 
fessed ; that the unfortunate man had also renounced his 
profession as priest, and had delivered up his authority to 
preach." 

There are white shepherds over every flock ! — but they are 
scarce. " Sanctified intellect ! " 

The following telegram, concerning the New York M. E. 
General Conference, published in the daily papers May 20, 
1872, affords a fair indication of the "honest " government 
we would have when all the offices would be filled by Chris- 
tians : 

" In the Methodist General Conference to-day Dr. Curry 
presented a memorial of J. S. Goodenough, former superin- 
tendent of the printing department of the Book Concern, in 
which he replies to certain assertions concerning him in Dr. 
Lanahan's report. Mr. Goodenough contends that the 
concern met with no loss during his superintendency, and 
alleges that Dr. Lanahan's motive in bringing charges against 
him was to get his own son into the paper business. Dr. 
Lanahan said "Goodenough might as well accuse him of 
wanting to make his son an Atheist as to put him into the 



250 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

paper business. Dr. Lanahan then charged that the whole 
concern, editors, secretaries, and agents, were concerned in 
the oil speculations to the detriment of the Church, and that 
J. F. Porter, who purchased paper for the concern, was a 
prison convict. [Loud cries of ' Order,' ' Hear him out !' etc."] 

A majority of a Christian committee report, "perfect 
innocence " of the accused. The New York Sun strongly 
intimates that these Christian gentlemen aimed to quiet the 
fears of the great body of Methodists, and to screen their 
offending brethren even at the expense of the truth. Pious 
lying among Christians is not a "lost art." There was a 
minority report of the committee which charges corruption, 
Avholesale stealing by the Christian agents. 

The New York Tribune^ Jan. 25, 187 1, said : 

" The only result of the inquiry has been to sow dissen- 
sion in the Church, to arouse uncharitable feelings in the 
ministry, and to fill the outside public with suspicion not 
only of the commercial prosperity of the great Methodist 
publishing house, but of the disposition, or at least the 
ability, of the Committee to investigate thoroughly its condi- 
tion or correct any abuses which may have crept into it. 
This bitter fruit of the long controversy may have sprung in 
part from professional ignorance of the ordinary forms of 
dispensing justice, because ministers are not often familiar 
with the processes of courts ; but surely common sense might 
have saved the Committee from the egregious blunders which 
have marked their whole course in this important matter. It 
is about fifteen months since Dr. Lanahan published his 
charges against the management of the Book Concern, 
alleging that there had been heavy losses through fraud or 
gross misconduct in the administration. The Book Com- 
mittee met to investigate these charges, and found that they 
were in the main true ; but meanwhile a violent hostility had 
been excited against Dr. Lanahan, and in January, 1870, the 
Committee was called together again to revise its former 
decision. The result of these supplementary proceedings 
was a majority report whitewashing the Book Concern and 
declaring that there had been no losses at all, and a minority 
report reiterating the previous judgment." 

Dr. Lanahan said, 



THE SANCTIFIED, 25 I 

" T have asserted that frauds and corruptions exist in the 
management of the Book Concern, and I stand by my words." 

" Think of it ! frauds and corruptions by " Sanctified 
intellects ! " 

I presume no minister will admit that their Master hated 
Pharisees as me7i when he said, " Woe unto you, Scribes and 
Pharisees, hypocrites ! for ye devour widow's houses, and for 
a pretence make long prayer." "Woe unto you Scribes and 
Pharisees, hypocrites ! for ye compass sea and land to make 
one proselyte ; and when he is made, ye make him two-fold 
more the child of hell than yourselves." "Woe unto you, 
ye blind guides." "Ye fools and blind." "Like unto 
whited sepulchres," "appear beautiful outward," "within 
full of dead men's bones," " uncleanness," "so ye also out- 
wardly appear righteous unto men, but within you are full of 
hypocrisy and iniquity." 

I bear the Clergy no ill-will, ' tis their calling that is a 
curse to themselves and the world. It is because they array 
their Asiatic religion as the antagonist of our splendid Repub- 
lic that I despise that religion. 

It will not be inadvisable to give a few specimen cases of 
clerical holiness in detail : 

An ordained servant of the Lord, a meek and gentle 
follower of the lowly Jesus, Rev. Joel Lindsley, a Presbyte- 
rian clergyman, residing near Medina, in the State of New 
York, whipped to death his child, only three years of age, 
because the little fellow would not say his prayers ! This 
was in June, 1866. Says the Rochester, (N. Y.,) Union: 

" We learn from railroad men who came from Medina this 
morning that there was a great excitement in that village 
arising from a report that a Presbyterian clergyman, named 
Lindsley, residing a mile south of the village, yesterday 
whipped his son, three years old, so severely that he died two 
hours afterward, because he would not say his prayers. 
Report adds, that the child's fingers were broken by the blows 
administered. The report seemed so monstrous and unnatu- 
ral, that we telegraphed to Medina to learn if it was true, 
and received an answer that it was. 



252 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

" The telegraph states that the minister was two hours 
whipping the child with a heavy rod, and it died within the 
time stated above. Lindsley had not been arrested at the 
time the dispatch was sent, but we learn that an officer from 
Albion has gone to Medina to take him into custody. For 
the sake of common humanity, we hope the story is exagger- 
ated, and it may be possible that it is. 

" Since writing the above, we have received by special 
telegraph the statement of Mr. Lindsley, the father of the 
child, made to a jury summoned by Coroner Chamberlain: 
* On the 1 8th of June, the child disobeyed his step-mother, 
and I commenced correcting him, using a shingle for the 
purpose, and continued to chastise him for more than two 
hours, when the child began to show signs of debility ; and 
I ceased to punish him, and laid him on a couch and called 
my wife. When she saw the child, she said he was dying, 
and before twelve o'clock he was dead.' The coroner's jury 
returned a verdict yesterday, ' that death resulted from chas- 
tisement by the father,' " 

" Lindsley 's (that's the monster's name) statement before 
the coroner's jury was corroborated by other witnesses before 
the jury. The body of the child told more plainly and 
pathetically than words could of the terrible punishment it 
had undergone. Several of its fingers were broken, and the 
blood had oozed from every pore. To conceal the crime, 
the father had tied the little one's hands behind its back and 
placed it in its coffin. While physicians were making a post- 
mortem examination of the body, he sat by, coolly looking 
at the proceedings. After a while he spoke, and asked them 
if they had not carried ' this thing about far enough ? ' The 
physicians discovered no disease about the child ; it died 
solely from excessive and cruel punishment. The little one 
would have been three years old next August — whipped to 
death because it would not say its prayers. 

" We are told that Lindsley justified his horrid work ! He 
thinks it was his duty to punish the child until his will was 
broken and he obeyed. Lindsley was arrested and committed 
to jail in Albion. It was with the utmost difficulty that the 
officers who had him in charge could keep the citizens of 
Medina and neighborhood from lynching the murderer on the 
spot. Lindsley is a man about five feet eight inches in 
height, well proportioned, has black whiskers, and dark 
complexion. He has the appearance of a man of violent 
temper." 



THE SANCTIFIED. 253 

In reference to this affair, the Orleans, (N. Y.,) Republican 
philosophises : 

" THE LINDSLEY WHIPPING CASE. 

" This is a case of great peculiarity. No one, taking a 
natural view of the matter, can for a moment suppose that 
this father intended to kill his own child. If premeditation 
is an ingredient of murder, Lindsley is not a murderer. 

" Heretofore, we are informed, this clergyman has 
sustained a spotless reputation, and was considered an 
inoffensive man ; therefore, we cannot class him with those 
depraved wretches whose evil deeds are a terror to the com- 
munity in which they live. Nor can we suppose he was so 
inflamed by anger toward a little child, three years of age, 
that he deliberately pounded it to death. 

" Mr. Lindsley has probably been a man of austere piety, 
a piety that is intolerant to the opinions of others and un- 
compromising in its dealings with the world. There are 
thousands of such persons in the country ; they are men of 
impracticable minds, who claim that they should ' do right 
though the heavens fall,' and they are unwilling that any 
thing should be considered ' right ' unless they indorse it.* 
This was a peculiarity of the early settlers of New-England, 
who pierced holes through people's tongues, and hanged 
them on the gallows, and banished them from the country, 
all in the name of their austere orthodoxy. 

" These peculiarities of religion are mostly the fault of 
education. Men are so impressed with the ' duty ' they owe 
to God, that they commit the greatest outrages against 
humanity in the name of their Creator. Such religion is 
worse than no religion at all. 

" But thus has it been from the foundation of the world, 
not only with the Christian religion, but in all forms of 
idolatry. How many victims have suffered because of their 
intolerant spirit ! 

" This man who has killed his child is to be pitied as well 
as condemned. He is to be pitied because he is so narrow- 
minded and full of bigotry as not to be able to understand 
the divine truths of the Master whom he professes to serve. 

" He is condemned, before trial, by all classes of the 
community — even by those who, some of them, are as bigoted 

* Characteristic of Christians. It is this class of people who would 
apply the full rigor of law to Free Thinkers. 



254 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

as he is, and by disciples of Jesus, who profess charity for 
all men. While we all must cry out against this frightful 
cruelty, let us speak a word against those false systems of 
religion that permit the beating of the life out of a tender 
child." 

Clerical crime is so common that it is frequently com- 
mented on by the daily and weekly press. The cause of so 
much sin among the reverend gentlemen is an enigma to 
nearly all the members of the editorial fraternity. Many of 
them say that the Clergy's "sacred calling" ought to save 
them from the commission of crime. It is the sacred calling 
that, in the majority of cases, proves their ruin. 

The National Police Gazette is probably as reliable as the 
daily press, and the conductors of that paper profess to 
exercise even greater care in the selection of news. It says : 

"We receive, daily, communications from all parts of the 
United States, embracing narratives of crime and rascality 
which, if published (supposing them to be true,) would act 
as agents in deterring many people from violating the right, 
and rendering themselves infamous. But we find it impos- 
sible to use the majority of these communications because 
they are not satisfactorily authenticated. The National 
Police Gazette is not a channel for libel. It shall not be 
employed to gratify any individual's spleen, or minister to 
anybody's malice In order, therefore, to guard against 
being made the instruments of personal vengeance, we have 
made it a rule to reject all correspondence which does not 
bear unmistakable marks of authentication. A mere name 
signed at the bottom will not do, unless we are acquainted 
with the signer, or the signature is accompanied by sufficient 
proof that it is genuine, and belongs to an individual who is 
telling the truth and 'nothing but the truth.'" 

The Gazette contains the following brief notice of a godly 
man whose alleged misdeeds have been widely published : 

" THE REVEREND WOLF OF BALTIMORE. A TERRIBLE TALE 

FORTHCOMING. 

" The committee having in charge the investigation into 
the conduct of Rev. Dr. Huston has so far completed its 



THE SANCTIFIED. 255 

labors as to be nearly ready to frame a regular church indict- 
ment against him, upon which he will be called to answer. 
The committee having but two days in the week to work, the 
investigation is naturally slow, as there are a great many 
charges being brought against him from different parts of the 
country where he has ministered, and almost every day the 
committee are in receipt of communications concerning his 
past career, which, if true, show a life of licentious crime 
never before heard of in this country. The mother of the 
young school girl whom he is alleged to have ruined in this 
city has given her testimony to the committee, but the terri- 
ble tale of the girl herself will not be heard until he makes 
answer to the indictment." 

The Rev. Dr. Huston is called by the press of the country 
the "Clerical villain of Baltimore." 

Dr. Huston has been acquitted by a " godly " tribunal ; so 
has Rev. Dr. Berkley. The unholy press, however, condemn 
such ecclesiastical trials and farces. The Cleveland Leader 
has the following : 

TRAVESTY OF JUSTICE. 

" After what purported to be a full and impartial investi- 
gation of the charges against the Rev. Dr. Huston of Balti- 
more, that very reverend culprit has been acquitted, the 
court standing two for conviction to three for acquittal. 
This, so far as the church is concerned, doubtless ends the 
case until some other young lady or servant girl comes to the 
front with a story of seduction and illicit relations against 
this hypocritical shepherd. There is a single word, however, 
with which we wish to take final leave of the case. The 
acquittal of Dr. Huston stands side by side with the extra- 
ordinary censure heaped upon Dr. Lanahan by the Methodist 
Book Concern Committee, as examples of the incapacity of 
church organizations to dispense justice. Dr. Lanahan came 
into the Book Concern in 1868, and before he had been there 
six months discovered grave errors and neglects. True to 
his duty, he collared the culprits, dragged them before the 
conference, showed the books, pointed out and proved the 
peculations and irregularities and was rewarded — how ? By 
being called a brawler and a mischief maker, who was trying 
to stir up sedition in the church. These are notorious facts, 
and the public, which has read the reports and the figures, 



256 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

knows them to be so. Just so the case of Dr. Huston. Two 
or three young girls, members of Dr. Huston's congregation, 
and a servant employed in his family for years, all bring 
against him the charge of seduction, each victim telling her 
sad story so minutely, so simply and with that mortified 
reserve and shame which could not be successfully counter- 
feited, and after it all three out of five clergymen appointed 
to try the culprit conclude that he has been punished enough, 
and that to save the credit of the church from this scandal. 
Dr. Huston had better be acquitted. The difficulty in both 
cases is the same. Neither the Book Concern Committee nor 
the Ecclesiastical Court at Baltimore have the courage to do 
justice where it would compromise the credit of their church. 
They prefer that their pulpits should set an example for the 
rakes and defaulters of the land rather that the enemies of 
religion should point to the convicted reverend and say ' he 
was a Methodist.' It is this indifference to law, this esprit 
de corps in congregations, rising above the sense of morality 
and justice, that renders the conviction of criminals so diffi- 
cult and uncertain. Want of respect for the supremacy of 
the law, and reverence for justice for its own sake, these are 
conditions in the public mind which make crimes like those 
of Tweed and Fisk possible. It is useless to publish the 
decree that Dr. Huston is innocent, as it was for the Metho- 
dist committee to proclaim Dr. Lanahan a mischief maker 
and seditionist because he insisted that a deficiency of 
$30,000 in a single year and transfers, erasures, and other 
irregularities without number, proved that there was knavery 
somewhere. It is surely a sorry thing for a leading religious 
sect to have one of its leading ministers turn out a libertine 
and a liar, but it will not help the case for that church to 
attempt by whitewashing the transgressor to keep him in its 
fold. Now that the church has done with Dr. Huston, it is 
to be hoped that the friends of his alleged victims will bring 
him before a court of law, where justice to the weak rather 
than the credit of a sect or congregation will be the principle 
upon which the verdict is determined." — Cleveland Weekly 
Leader^ June 15, 1872. 

The Cleveland Daily Leader of June 19, says: 

" DR. HUSTON BEFORE ANOTHER COURT. 

*■ The case of Dr. Huston is not to be permanently disposed 
of by his acquittal at the hands of the five ministers of his 



THE SANCTIFIED. 257 

own sect. On Saturday last the grand jury of the criminal 
court of Baltimore found a true bill against Mr. Huston for 
adultery with Mary Driscoll, known in the recent proceed- 
ings as the ' Sunday school girl,' and the reverend wolf will 
now have a chance to try whether he can establish his inno- 
cence as easily before a court of law, as he has done before 
a board of his pulpit associates. The indictment contains 
three counts, all of the same character, but having reference 
to different offences, the latest being of the date of January 
24, 1872. It is fortunate that this second trial is to come so 
closely in the wake of the first. Outside of a very small 
circle of Dr. Huston's friends, the whole country regards his 
late trial as a very transparent farce. If he is innocent it 
will require much more than the verdict of the Baltimore 
ecclesiastical court to make that innocence believed. If he 
is guilty it is the right of every parent in the land to know 
it. He is still a minister and he will have a full opportunity 
l)efore the legal tribunal to make the strongest possible 
defense. Either he is guilty or he is the victim of one of 
the basest conspiracies ever organized against an innocent 
man. There is a deep crime somewhere. If he is the sin- 
ner it is due his church and society at large that it be known. 
If Mary Driscoll and her mother have conspired with 
Virginia Hopkins and the two or three other accusers of Dr. 
Huston, to rob him of his character, the law should find them 
and punish them according to their grave offense. Black- 
mailing a clergyman is next in the list of crimes to seduction 
itself, and the public will wait with interest to know which 
of these crimes is involved in the Huston case." 

The Church is a gigantic institution for the concealment 
■of crime. It is a notorious fact that church members esteem 
it their solemn duty to hide the corruption which transpires 
in their midst from the rude gaze of worldly sinners. In a 
large number of cases of immorality among clergymen which 
become public, there is evidence of attempts to " hush " for 
the good of the church ! Who can estimate the number of 
cases of immoral conduct which are kept secret in the bosom 
of the church } 

And now the daily papers contain columns of information 
about a reverend doctor of St. Louis with a " spotless repu- 
tation." This Rev. Dr. E. F. Berkley has been charged with 
17 



258 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

taking undue liberties with the gentle young lambs of his 
flock — several young girls alleged to be his victims, among 
the number a Miss Ella Perry, thirteen years of age. If it 
is not a shepherd's place to handle his lambs, as this rever- 
end is charged with doing, whose place is it.^ This whole 
doctrine of " sheep and shepherds " has begotten a great 
deal of "holy petting." The Reverend doctor confesses on 
trial that he is extremely fond of petting. When girls and 
women will persist in almost smothering their parsons with 
kisses they ought to reflect, in the language of the Chicago 
Pulpit^ that " unthinkingly women may seem to be only- 
tempting the office, when they are unwittingly laying snares 
for its occupant y Dr. Berkley testified under oath that Ella 
Perry put her arms around him and kissed him. It would 
appear from the report of the trial that such acts were not 
uncommon. Taking a common sense view of the matter 
they are not sinful, but unless clergymen, (who are so gen- 
erally petted and caressed by attractive women and pretty 
girls,) are sustained by principle as firm as the " rock of 
ages"; unless their passions are held in subjection and 
guided by intellect, they would be more than flesh and blood 
if they did not fall. 



A Brooklyn Matrimonial Mystery. A Sunday School Super ^ 
intendent Falls Terribly from Grace. He runs to Canada 
with another man's Wife. The Docks and Feri'ies Sounded 
for his Recovery. He is supposed to have bee7i Murdered, 
His Sudden Return and Open Confession before His Church. 
The Lady Retreats to her Newark House. Apparent 
Reconciliations in the Smitten Families. Astoundins^ De- 
velopments in Unsuspected Characters. 



•ib 



" An extraordinary illustration of lawless family romance 
has just disclosed itself in our neighboring city of Brooklyn. 
That Metropolitan suburb is distinguished as the City of 
Churches, and is quite rampant with the latest editions of 
the reformatory spirit. But its reformatory tendency is not 
confined to any one speciality, but pushes out boldly, as will 
be seen, in diverse directions. 



THE SANCTIFIED. 259 

" Among the citizens of Brooklyn, there is one gentleman 
who has been heretofore distinguished as a member of the 
Methodist persuasion. He is a member of a church in 
Brooklyn, known as the Johnson street Methodist Church, 
and he has figured until quite recently as Superintendent of 
its Sabbath school. He is a married man, and has hitherto 
lived with the wife of his choice in undisturbed peace. This 
couple was indeed remarkable for the apparent domestic 
serenity of their lives, and for the marked partiality they 
uniformly manifested for each other. They appeared indeed 
more like a newly married couple, roseate with the first flush 
of a recent bridal, than like a ripe husband and wife, 
approaching the term of meridian experience — such seemed 
their full, mutual satisfaction with each other's society, and 
such their apparent happiness in promoting each other's 
happiness. The gentleman here referred to is now forty-five 
years of age, lives at No. loo Hampden street, Brooklyn, and 
as we have thus far defined him, we may further state that he 
is known as Stephen Owen. This gentleman, in his domes- 
tic relations, has heretofore been distinguished as particularly 
domestic in his habits. His pecuniary condition is at least 
thrifty with every needed personal comfort. He dresses 
with neatness and modesty, always makes a presentable 
appearance and is a man of decided intelligence, in the larger 
sense of that word — in the sense that implies various and 
accurate reading, with sufficient thought and capacity for 
mental digestion to avail himself of his reading, and employ 
it to advantage. His personal society was, in fact, considered 
a desirable acquisition, and in the large and influential com- 
munity in which he moved, he was held as a man of mark. 
Up to the occurrence we are about to narrate, he had sus- 
tained a character entirely above suspicion. Not a breath is 
known ever to have been whispered against him, and he 
walked among his friends with a reputation wholly cloudless. 
He was a Mason in unspotted standing with that time-hon- 
ored order in Brooklyn — an order distinguished for its severe 
moral standard, and its profound veneration for the Deity 
and the great Book of Books that Deity has authorized; and 
he had passed through a series of its honored trusts. His 
occupation was that of bookkeeper in a large establishment 
in this city, whose unbroken confidence he had enjoyed for 
many years. But one distinguishing circumstance remains 
to be noted, as marking his household relations He had no 
children. No one but Mr. Owen and his confiding wife 
made up the family. But now we have the counter side 



26o THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

to disclose. In an inauspicious and luckless hour Mr. Owen 
formed the acquaintance of a lady, who was casually visiting 
Brooklyn, at the residence of the lady's mother. This 
acquaintance began not more than five or six weeks before 
the melancholy denouement, in which, however, the sad truth 
may be temporarily covered. It seems inevitable that the 
future peace of two families must be hopelessly shattered. 
The lady here involved is a resident of Newark, N. J., is a 
married woman, and has two infant responsibilities. She is 
a woman of singular vivacity of temperament, and is per- 
sonally attractive in society. Her eye lights with a rare 
sparkle in conversation, and it wears an especial radiance of 
appreciation and recognition, when the lady is engaged as a 
listener. 

" This lady, in her former maiden days, had been a resi- 
dent of Brooklyn, and was only taken out of it by her 
subsequent nuptials with a resident of the good old State of 
New Jersey. 

" During the lady's temporary visit at the residence of her 
Brooklyn mother, no suspicion was entertained that any 
impropriety was in progress. Not a breath was entertained 
of such impropriety. The whole programme of wild and 
bewildering license the sequel will disclose, was matured, 
and carried into triumphant execution, without a thought 
occurring to any one, of anything wrong in the actors of one 
of the saddest domestic dramas that has lately disfigured 
Christian society. The preliminaries of this drama were all 
arranged right under the eyes of relatives, acquaintances and 
friends. It ripened to its withering climacteric, in the steal- 
thiest secrecy. It swept off to final execution under a cloud 
of profound concealment, and no one ever dreamed of such 
an actuality as chain lightning behind that cloud. 

" On Saturday evening, March 23, Mr. Owen started osten- 
sibly, as was his custom, from his place of business in this 
city, to his home at No. 100 Hampden street, Brooklyn; but 
he did not reach his home. Of course the agony and 
suspense were intense at such an unusual absence. Sunday 
morning came, and he did not make his appearance ; Monday 
morning came, and the same mysterious silence continued, 
covering the same unaccountable absence. Foul play, in 
some of the various forms in which our citizens have recently 
been murderously assailed, was suspected, as affording the 
only rational clue to the absence of a man, so uniformly 
regular in his habits. Detectives were at once engaged to 
ferret out the painful mystery. These police pointers ' soun- 



THE SANCTIFIED. • 261 

dec! all the depths and shoals,' where ' murder most foul ' 
could possibly be supposed to have been perpetrated upon 
unwary innocence. They visited the various ferries that 
lead to and from this metropolis. They scented the ragged 
sections of our city docks, and dropped their professional 
plummets around every outlaw's den in this city. They 
traveled up and down the North and East rivers, and plied 
every known key to unlock the sudden departure mystery. 
But all continued silent as the grave, and no voice came up 
from the ' vasty deep ' of Mr. Owen's absence. 

" In this way a week of distressing suspense and fruitless 
search passed away. At length, at the expiration of that 
period, a strange, unlooked for and isolated clue seemed to 
peep out through the confused and confusing shadows, that 
surrounded the agonizing disappearance. It was suddenly 
discovered that a lady was also absent, whom Mr. Owen had 
recently seen with some degree of apparent interest, and this 
was the Newark lady, who had been on a late visit to her 
Brooklyn mother. This discovery soon blew up into suspi- 
cious whispers. The whispers quickly blazed into general 
accusations and inculpations, and the outcry soon became 
general, that Mr. Owen, the Sabbath School Superintendent, 
and admitted pillar of the Johnson street church, had liter- 
ally and in dead earnest, eloped with the Newark heroine ; 
and the conclusion was as abruptly reached, judging from 
the essential character of the act, that the pair, matrimonially 
speaking, had probably 'passed that bourne whence no 
traveler returns.' 

" Thus a brief period whiled away, when the missing lady 
suddenly appeared among her former acquaintances, appa- 
rently 'as good as new.' Hearing at once, as she could not 
avoid doing, the stories afloat concerning her, she promptly 
denied any complicity in the charges muttered against her. 
But the circumstances already known were too many and too 
pointed, to allow her denial to shake the general judgment, 
in the lady's personal relation to the unhappy mystery. Mr. 
Owen was not immediately forthcoming At length, how- 
ever, on Thursday, April ii, after an absence of nearly three 
weeks, Mr. Owen dropped down among his friends, appa- 
rently from the clouds, and made his appearance at the home 
of his deserted wife, with about as surprising abruptness as 
he had left her. We have no disposition to obtrude upon 
the agony of that meeting. Silence was at first allowed to 
cover it by the community at large, as well as by the more 
immediate friends of the torn couple. Nothing was said 



262 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

about the supposed domestic convulsion, and even the whis- 
pers of malignant gossips, for a wonder, were temporarily- 
hushed before the unexpected return of Mr. Owen to his 
family. In this way time was permitted to wear quietly on, 
and nothing more was even heard of Mr. Owen till Sunday 
evening, the 21st of April last, when a scene occurred of 
which Mr. Owen was the hero, in the Johnson street Metho- 
dist Church, that will long be remembered by the congrega- 
tion there assembled. Mr. Owen, it seems, had resolved to 
make a clean breast of the dark involutions that surrounded 
his recent disappearance. His cultivated conscience, made 
sensitive by his religious education, and ready to break with 
remorse from the retrospect of his recent action, could 
endure the silence of his own thoughts on the subject no 
longer. He was bound to find relief in a public acknowl- 
edgment. He was haunted by the spectre of a shattered 
reputation, and of broken vows, and he was determined to 
make an atonement for the wrong and the ruin, as far as 
•earnest contrition and an open confession could make such 
an expiation. He had, therefore, prepared a written state- 
ment of the mystical disappearance, and handed it to the 
Rev. F. W. Ware, pastor of the church of which he was a 
member ; with a request that he should read it to the assem- 
bled congregation. 

" The silence was profound, as the clergyman made the 
preliminary statement of what he was about to do. The 
shadows of an April Sabbath evening intensified the all-ab- 
sorbing interest of the scene. Expectation was painfully 
strained at the approaching exposition, and hushed into 
painful stillness, as the agitated pastor advanced to his 
disagreeable work. In such a presence, and with such truly 
dramatic surroundings, the Rev. Mr. Ware began to read a 
communication addressed by Mr. Owen through the clergy- 
man, to the church of which the latter was minister. The 
communication reads as follows : 

" ' To the Member's of the Johnson Street M. E. Church : 
" ' I deem it my duty to make a full statement. It is a duty 
I owe to you and my own soul. At the time I so mysteri- 
ously disappeared from my home and your midst, a few 
weeks ago, I had fallen into a great sin. It is due you to 
know that I had eloped with another man's wife. I have 
committed a terrible sin, and God made me a great suf- 
ferer. For about six or seven weeks before I left I was 
walking before God, but I indulged in thoughts and then fell. 



THE SANCTIFIED. 263 

What induced those thoughts I cannot tell. I put in no plea 
of insanity. I fell before the temptations of Satan, and 
sinned against God, my friends, and the members of this 
church, and brought a dark reproach against the church, 
and put a stumbling stone before unbelievers. I have no 
words to express the agony that I have felt, and I ask you 
to forgive me. At the time that I left I stood a member of 
the Johnson street Church, and I now say that I am perfectly 
willing that you should pursue that course with me that will 
be for the good of the Church. I know of nothing that I 
can do more. Stephen Owen.' 

" The effect of this communication, and really wailing 
confession, was electrical upon the assembled congregation. 
Nobody felt like saying anything, or exchanging a word with 
a friend or a neighbor. All was still, and the stillness was 
subdued by an all-pervading sadness, that so strange a mix- 
ture of sin and sorrow inevitably awakened. No one wanted 
to talk. 

" We need hardly say that the Rev. Mr. Ware was deeply 
.affected during the reading of this remarkable letter. He 
was profoundly affected, and it was hard to tell by whom the 
audience was most deeply moved — the visible agitation of 
the pastor, or the prostrate contrition of the penitent brother. 
The whole together, combined to make up a scenic exhibition, 
that might well awaken the earnest stimulus of the painter's 
j)encil or the poet's pen. 

'' At the close of the reading, the clergyman remarked, 
that at the time Mr. Owen so mysteriously left home, he 
:inade his way quite direct to Toronto, Canada, and we will 
add, that thither he went with the Newark lady in his society. 
^ut on reaching that more northern clime, Mr. Owen, with 
■strange suddenness, was visited with the pangs of contrition. 
He became fearfully disturbed, and so much was he disturbed, 
that in a little over a week from the time of his departure 
liere, he sent the lady home. This accounts for the appear- 
ance of the lady among her friends here before the return of 
Mr. Owen. 

"It was the first intention of Mr. O., after he was smitten 
with the agony of remorse, not to return here, but to go 
where he was not known. Then he meant to send word to 
his wife, making a full confession to her. If she came to 
him, he designed to go far away, and bury himself in the 
ishadows of strange lands and stranger faces. But here again 
his penitence smote him. He remembered the Church he 



264 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

had left behind him in Brooklyn, and he could not forget the 
wrong he had inflicted upon it. He determined to repair 
that wrong to the full extent of his power, and thereupon 
came back, to do what he could, to remove the stain he had 
cast upon it. 

" Before dismissing the congregation, the clergyman 
remarked, that he rejoiced in the perfectly frank way in 
which Mr. Owen had finally acted, in full view of this dis- 
tressing matter and further said, that it was the only way in 
which the unhappy man could expect to get Divine favor. 
The congregation then silently withdrew 

" As to the identity of the involved lady though there is 
scarce a possibility of doubt in regard to it, yet we have 
deemed it proper, for very obvious reasons, to withhold her 
name. Every attending circumstance points very straight to 
that identity, and the moral evidence in regard to it is con- 
clusive. But the technically legal evidence may not be so 
easily attainable. That literal secret is still confined to the 
breast of Mr. Owen and the lady herself, and in the event of 
being summoned to render a legal account, the strict legal 
evidence might not be forthcoming. We therefore venture 
on no rash assertions on this subject. And besides, in giv- 
ing names on subjects of extreme delicacy like this, we take 
no chances that by any possibility might wrong an innocent 
person. The names we do give, in this as in all other cases, 
may be relied upon as genuine, that can be supported at any 
time by the most abundant testimony." 

It is seldom that a woman is thus shielded. The Church 
is a great " city of refuge," as is shown in the following, 
narrative, published in the St. Paul (Minn.,) Press : 

" MISERABLE SINNERS. 

" Curious Social Fheno7?iena — How a Smart Woman Rebu- 
ked Her Seducer and Partner in Cri?ne. 

" The Tifnes, of Marshalltown, Iowa, publishes certain 
letters that have passed between a man and woman of for- 
mer irreproachabihty [Oh, yes,] but who are now enduring 
the different penalties awarded by society respectively to 
him and to her whose errors have become public. The 
man's career of folly is finished. He has made peace with 
his church, apologized to forgiving friends, persuaded his 
wife and family to overlook his temporary weakness, and. 



THE SANCTIFIED. 265 

resumed his standing and practice as a Christian lawyer. 
He is penitent in his final addresses to the woman and, 
while assuring her of his continued brotherly affection, tells 
her that they must meet no more in this world, and implores 
her to become a Christian, and thus make sure of meeting 
him in heaven. She, however, is not in a way to display 
such edifying composure of spirit, and says, in her last letter 
to him : ' I am glad you can find comfort and consolation 
in the church, and you implore me to ' try and be a Christian.' 
Believe me, my experience with Christians is not such as ta 
make me desire a closer relation. God may be good, but I 
have never received any pity that makes me yearn for more, 
and the quicker I change the places and friends of this world 
for those of the next, the better satisfied I shall be — that is, 
if anything in heaven or elsewhere can make any difference 
in my misery. But I beg you not to grieve over the misery 
you have brought upon me, and, as you stay at home, try 
and not think of the wanderer without a friend on God's 
green earth to care for her, without a home or friends, or 
money, or credit, or name. I start out upon the broad 
highway to fight my way through with nothing but darkness 
to cheer me on. My heart is capable of love no longer. 

" ' You speak in your letter of your duty to your wife and 
family. Do you suppose that I believe that you love your 
family any more than you did o^e month ago ? Did your 
duty to your wife keep you from telling me a thousand times 
that you loved me better than all the world ; that if all the 
wealth and all the honors this world could bestow were 
placed on one side without me, and on the other was poverty, 
with barely the comforts of life, you would unhesitatingl)^ 
give up the first to share the latter with me ? Yet at the 
first stroke you say you are determined to bow your head 
like the willow to the blast, and let a heartless world berate 
your idolized darling for misguiding you. Let me tell you 
that the willow is a weak protection. No bird, not even the 
most diminutive, builds its nest in the willow while the 
mighty eagle takes its perch upon the oak. I have proven 
how the willow will bend, and finally strip down the side, 
taking the heart out as it goes. Tell me, if you can, what 
right you have to stay in your home, while I was driven from 
mine. My home was as dear to me, and as good as yours. 
Was it any harder for you to forsake yours, than for me to 
give up mine ? You are a man. Tell me, if you dare, to 
make a profession of religion, after all that has passed 
between us, and after going to your wife and telling her that 



266 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

you always loved her ; that your heart has never wandered 
from her, even for a moment, that you were led astray, but 
you did not wrong her in your heart. Say now, tell me, are 
you a Christian, or can you ever be one ? * Don't tell me 
you did not tell her so. I know you did, and her poor 
deluded soul thinks she possesses your whole heart. Now, 
if you did not tell her so, what will you do with your pro- 
fessions to me } You are living a lie with her, and you know 
it. If you did not tell her so, are you living with a woman 
you do not love with your whole soul, while you allow the 
one you say you do love to drift away into a friendless world, 
without lifting a finger to keep her by your side .'* ' 

" There is the old, old difference ! The man can profess 
penitence and return to his place, and be trusted and hon- 
ored again but for the women, they are left only outer 
darkness, homelessness, and all the unrelieved horrors of the 
darkest way down to death. 

" Surely there must be indulgence in divine pity for the 
blasphemy she utters in the first great wrench of her agony, 
or an attribution of its sin rather to him who prates to her 
of religion, than to her whose rebellion against Heaven is 
against such a perverter of its righteous justice as he." 

THE PIOUS DOCTOR. 

From a close observation of facts I am led to believe that 
more young women are wrecked under the influence of 
religion than in any other way. Here are some extracts 
read from love-letters written by a ^' rising physician." They 
are pious^ very. At a trial in Lebanon, Ohio, they were read 
in open court. The writer is John Armstrong Bradshaw, 
M. D. The lady is Miss Mary Furgeson, of Springboro. 
Dr. Bradshaw said to Mary in his tender lines : 

" I believe I advised you that I was about to commence 
the practice of medicine in this village, if the approaching 
epidemic should appear in the summer months, and I feel 
almost convinced should I be actively employed and the dis- 
ease violent, that I will not survive that period. However, 
I shall faithfully perform, to the best of my abilities, my 
duties as a true physician to those persons, without distinc- 

* This woman was not versed in theology, or she would not have asked 
such a question. 



THE SANCTIFIED. ' 267 

tion of class, who may trust their lives to my care, meeting 
the decrees of fate as a Christian ge?itle?na?i, and die content. 

" I take much pleasure in your noting that you attend the 
regular Sunday church services. I have always thought that a 
young woman who neglected religious duties^ or showed an 
irreligious turn of mind, was a fit person for the utmost con- 
tempt that man can ever feel for woman. I should like to' 
know if there is a branch of the Protestant Episcopal Church, 
that I told you I was brought up to believe in as the true 
one, in Germantown, and that you had attended divine ser- 
vice on Sunday morning ; also add what your opinion is of 
that method of addressing prayer and supplication to Almighty 
God. 

" Dear Mary, when you write again, advise me of the day 
I may expect you home, the time now * * " [Balance of 
this letter lost.] 

" Dearest Mary you must have misunderstood my injunc- 
tion. My language was to this effect, that you would not 
give your affections to another or allow any man the privi- 
lege of embracing you or kissing your lovely lips, no matter 
whom the person might be, while I had a prior claim and so 
long as I appeared to your mind worthy of your confidence 
and love, but it never entered into my mind or thoughts to 
attempt to entirely exclude you from all respectable compan- 
ions or in any way check the free exercise of your judgment 
and discretion in all that concerns your happiness and your 
affections." 

I have italicized portions of the first letter in order to 
exhibit its beauties ! 

On the trial at which these letters were read, 

" Mr. William Carpenter testified to facts which he had 
observed, going to confirm her story. He further testified 
to a conversation he had heard between the parties. He 
slept in a room next to the parlor where the lovers sat. One 
night, when in bed, he heard a conversation which aroused 
his suspicions. He rose and partly opened the door leading 
into the parlor, and peered in and saw the light was partly 
turned down ; he felt the delicacy of his position, but, being 
as he was there, thought he might see and hear more (for 
Mary was to him as his own daughter) , he listened and 
heard Dr. Bradshaw say, ' Mary, you don't love me as you 
should, or you would yield.' And Mary was heard to say, 



268 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

' I like you well enough, doctor, but I value my virtue more 
than my life.' 

" ' But the time is so short before we are to be married, it 
will make no difference.' 

" ' Not if it was only two hours before.' 

" The witness then went back to bed and said to his wife^ 
'he guessed Mary could take care of herself.' " 

His " dearest Mary " had to sue him for three different 
times breaking his promise to marry her, claiming damages 
to the amount of $10,000 for each promise. The proceed- 
ings were published in the Cincinnati Com7?ierctal, and other 
daily papers. 

I have given these few cases among the laity to show that 
many of the " sheep " follow their " shepherds." 

I have many instances on record of immoralities among 
Adventist clergymen, but as the sect of Adventists is small 
and insignificant in its influence, I will allow them to remain 
unnoticed. Obscurity is sometimes a shield. I turn again 
to the fruitful field of Methodism 

Washington W. Welch afforded the people in the vicinity 
of Holly, Mich., material for conversation. Crime : rape 
upon a brother Methodist Minister's wife, Louisa Green. 

Rev. George Washburn, of the Methodist Episcopal, 
church, performed the duties of preacher on the Limestone 
and Bradford circuit for two years past, and lately has been 
assigned to Port Alleghany and Eldred circuit. His acquire- 
ments were rather limited and his ability was not great, but 
his apparent devotion and desire to improve had led to his 
ordination and continuance as a preacher of the gospel. For 
about two years he has been paying attention to a worthy 
young lady of Alleghany, who, not aware of his false-heart- 
edness, had reposed such confidence in his assurances as to 
assent to marriage with him, and, after various postpone- 
ments the ceremony was to have been consummated on the 
evening named. But on his arrival in town that afternoon, 
scarcely had he time to give directions for taking care of his 
horse at Ward's hotel, before he was taken in charge by Officer 



THE SANCTIFIED. 269 

Smith, of Olean, (N. Y.) and taken on the train to Limestone, 
to answer a complaint made before Justices Vibbard and 
Fullar, relating to an unexpected responsibility and other 
promises supposed to have been made to another lady, to 
whom, it is alleged, he has been paying particular attention. 
No wedding. 

• " Dr. Griswold was not only married, but three times mar- 
ried in his brief life. He became the husband of his first 
wife when quite a young man. She lived with him some five 
or six years, and died after bearing him two children. Sub- 
sequently he went to South Carolina, where he got acquainted 
with a rich young Jewess, who became his second wife. He 
lived very unhappily with her ; and when their troubles had 
reached a climax, he consulted his friends about the propriety 
of a separation, telling them at the same time that though 
the legal ceremony of marriage had been performed, yet the 
marital act had never been consummated. There was a 
great deal of talk and scandal about the case, and people 
took sides with one party or the other in a very lively way. 
Two well known literary women of that day, Mrs. Ann S. 
Stephens and Mrs. Elliott, espoused the cause of the Jewess; 
"but Griswold was upheld by most of his friends, who declared 
that these literary ladies assailed him because he had persist- 
ently refused to ' puff ' their writings ; and this will not 
appear unlikely when it is considered that his praise of a 
new book, or his depreciation of it was then a matter of the 
greatest consequence to a writer. In course of time Gris- 
wold determined to separate from the Jewess, and went to 
Pennsylvania for the purpose of procuring a divorce. While 
there, on this business, he got acquainted with a lady from 
Maine, handsome and wealthy, to whom, after paying due 
attention, he offered himself in marriage, giving her to under- 
stand, at the same time, that he had procured, or would 
procure, a divorce from his second wife. After a time he 
married this lady at her home in Maine, and they soon after- 
ward came to live in New York, her brother having given 
them a very handsome residence in Twenty-third street. But 
before a great while his wife learned that he had never com- 
l^leted his divorce in Pennsylvania, and trouble ensued. She 
lived with him some two years, bearing him a child. But as 
the divorce business, which had never been settled, could 
not be settled, and as she was in a quandary about not being 
his legal wife, she left him and went back to her home in 



270 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

Maine, taking her child with her. Soon after this he was 
taken down with consumption, in which he Hngered for 
nearly a year, when death relieved him. 

" Griswold, though nominally or by profession a Baptist 
clergyman, was noted for his gayety and gallantry among 
women. If any gossiper desires to tell stories about his 
love affairs, it would be easy to find a great many of them. 
He belonged to a style of clergymen which were more fre- 
quently met with in former times than they are at the present 
day. * 

" More than once he has spent his Saturday night with a 
party of riotous companions, and gone from their company 
to church to preach an eloquent sermon. He was a man of 
innumerable good qualities, with some faults over which he 
himself often mourned." — New York Correspondence Cm- 
cinnati Commercial, 

The following appeared in the Saint Paul Pioneer^ Sept» 
16, 1870 : 

"clerical LOTHARIO. 

" Career of a Reputed Minister at the village of Amietia — 
Threatened Lynching — Elopement with a Married Woman : 

" The beautiful village of Annetia, in central New York^ 
has been thrown into uncontrollable excitement by the 
developments which have been made within the past few- 
days. 

" About two years ago there appeared among them, at that 
place, a man named Thurlow Tresselman. He said that he 
came there on a mission. His exclusive hobby was religion, 
and he expressed his desire to do what was possible toward 
the establishment of a Methodist Church in the village. The 
people were at first distrustful of their ability to support a 
minister, but he overcame this objection by agreeing that, if 
by the time that the church was finished they were no better 
able to do so, he would himself act in the pulpit until cheir 
means would allow them to employ a regular licensed preacher. 
His proposition satisfied the people, subscriptions were start- 
ed, and the church was quickly erected and soon afterward 
opened. Tresselman then took his place in the pulpit, the 
church being the only one in the village, services having 

* They are just as numerous now as in former days. 



THE SANCTIFIED. 27I 

been previously held in a private house. He organized a 
Sunday School soon after the church had been opened, and 
instituted Friday evening prayer meetings, and was inde- 
fatigable in his attentions to the spiritual wants of his flock, 
frequently visiting the houses of members to advise with 
them concerning religious matters. 

" It was noticeable that he most often visited the handsome 
young ladies attending his Sunday School, although he did 
not slight the residences of prepossessing married women. 
Fathers and husbands failed to entertain any feeling of 
jealousy or suspicion toward him, on account of their confi- 
dence in the goodness of the work in which he was engaged. 

"The delusions under which they had been laboring were 
suddenly dispelled, however. Some time ago vague rumors 
were circulated, alleging that Tresselman's relations to one 
or two young lady members of his congregation had been 
none of the purest. These were not believed at first, but 
were rather set down as bits of gossip. One young maiden, 
Annie Haight, who has been under his tutelage, could no 
longer conceal her condition from the knowledge of the vil- 
lagers, but she refused at first to reveal the name of her 
seducer. When her condition became known, several other 
maidens alleged that they could name him, and pointed to 
Tresselman as the guilty party. When pressed to divulge 
the source of their information, it was discovered that they 
had themselves, in some cases, fallen victims to his wiles, or 
in others had been the object of improper advances on his 
part. It was not until he had been thus unmistakably pointed 
out that Miss Haight was willing to confess that Tresselman 
was her seducer. 

" The first impulse of the people on making this discovery, 
was to lynch the man, but his address saved him from this 
punishment. When a committee of the village waited on 
him to demand an explanation, he stigmatized the statement 
as being false, and said they originated on the part of some 
girls by a desire to hide their real seducer from exposure. 
He finally advised them to investigate the charges before they 
took final action or perpetrate the threatened deed of vio- 
lence. It was subsequently arranged to hold a meeting on 
Monday evening, for the purpose of giving him a hearing. 
Monday evening came, but no Tresselman. Inquiries on 
Tuesday revealed the fact that he had been seen driving out 
of the village on Monday morning, but no particular trace 
could be found of him Among those connected with his 
congregation was a lady named Hurst, whose husband was a 



272 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

traveler in Europe Mrs. Hurst was reported to have 
decamped with him. On investigation her home was found 
to be locked and barred. The neighbors thinking that the 
circumstances justified them, broke into the house, and found 
that Mrs. Hurst's clothes had all been removed. The follow- 
ing note was found, addressed to her husband : 

" ' Dear Herman — Don't think of me any more as your 
wife. I have gone with the only man I ever loved. You 
are much older than me, though you have been to me all I 
could expect. But I never would be happy with you again. 

" ' Emma.' 

" What steps will next be taken toward the clerical Lotha- 
rio's arrest has not yet been ascertained." — JV. Y. Times. 

So alarming has been the commission of crime among the 
Clergy that the people often exclaim in amazement, " What 
can we do to reform the ministers V The editor of the 
Natio7ial FoHce Gazette^ May 4, 1872, has this timely editorial: 

" THE CHURCHES. 

" Scandal in the churches is becoming much too common. 
The awful case of the Rev. Dr. Huston of Baltimore, still hangs 
fire, and is made the subject of much speculative talk not 
at all complimentary to the influences of church religion. 
There is no doubt of his guilt, according to evidence which 
has found its way into the newspapers, and yet the authori- 
ties of the ecclesiastical institution to which he belongs are 
apparently trying to hush the matter up, and bury it out of 
sight. This is not the right course for them to adopt. They 
should expose a delinquent in the shortest possible space of 
time, and officially spurn him from their midst without hesi- 
tation. A church scandal nearer at home than the Baltimore 
case, has transpired since our last, and we have been at some 
pains to penetrate to the bottom of it. The results of our 
labors will be found elsewhere. It is a great pity that people 
professing to be morally superior to the mass of their fellows 
should be caught tripping in the weakest way. Their exam- 
ple is utterly damaging to the progress of pure ethics." 

"When we see disorders abroad in the world we are apt 
to despond, and to cry out ' Lord, what wilt thou do for thy 
great name "i ' The Lord, however, is glorifying himself by 



THE SANCTIFIED. 273 

these things. Then why should we be troubled ? " — North- 
Western Christian Advocate ; and the Sunday at Home^ Feb. 
^S, 1868. 

While reading the proof sheets of these pages I am almost 
astounded at the increasing number of cases of clerical 
crime which the daily papers report. This chapter would 
scarcely have limits if I attempted to mention them. 

The Chicago Daily Tribune^ July 9, 1872, has the follow- 
ing sensible paragraph : 

"Three years ago, when the Methodist Church began to 
try to hush up the Book-Concern scandals, impartial observ- 
ers warned the men thus engaged that they would inevitably 
lower the moral tone of the Church if they persisted in the 
attempt. It is, of course, impossible to say how strong an 
effect their persistence had ; but it is certainly a noteworthy 
fact that this particular denomination has had a series of 
scandals within it during the last few months. Dr. Huston's 
case, at Baltimore, was followed by a similar one by one of 
his congregation. Then came the career of Rev Mr. Cra- 
mer, at Copenhagen. Dr. Thompson, at Cincinnati, came 
into unpleasant notoriety a few days since ; and now Rev S. 
J. Browne, another Methodist clergyman of the same city, 
has killed a boy 12 years of age. Finally, there comes a 
report from DeKalb County, in this State, that a Methodist 
minister has seduced four young girls, and has fled from 
arrest, leaving his wife and two children behind him. These 
cases form another chapter in the history of epidemic crime." 

1 Rev. J. L. Hatch, Westboro', Mass., in a letter to me under 
date of July 3, 1872, says : " Though reckoned, and reckon- 
ing myself, in a certain sense, among the clergy and the 
adherents of Christianity — I am free to confess and maintain 
with you — that ' the clergy ' (as a class) * aim to subvert all 
governments to their own despotic sway ; ' and that ' Chris- 
tianity ' (as- generally accepted and understood) 'is not only 
foreign but antagonistic to American liberty.' The priests 
and clergy of all ages have been first and foremost in the 
annals: ©f crime, and especially in sensuality ; * "^ the 
iP^OteStWntChris-tian clergy- of the present century, instead of 



274 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

falling behind or below the record of other religions, and the 
Catholic and Protestant clergy of former ages, have shown 
themselves, so far as evidence can be obtained, the worst of 
the lot." 

Mr. Hatch delivered a lecture, Sunday, June 9, in Marl- 
boro', Mass. The Westboro' Chronotype^ June 22, contained 
the following reference to it : 

" He called attention to the fact that several of the promi- 
nent supporters and official advocates of the ' Evangelical " 
faith in this vicinity had been convicted of gross licentious- 
ness and horrible crime. Several of these he referred to by 
name — Rev. B. Phinney (Orthodox) of Westboro' ; Rev. 
Sereno Howe (Baptist) of Abington ; Rev. Mr. Reed (Ortho- 
dox) of Maiden and Rev. Dr. Pomeroy, Secretary of the 
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. 
The latter gentleman he said was proved to have been a good 
patron of the Boston houses of ill-fame, and to have expended 
hundreds of dollars, contributed to send the gospel to the 
heathen, on the harlots of that city ! 

" At the close of his lecture. Rev. Mr. Treat, minister of 
the ' Orthodox ' Society in Marlboro', rose and declared Mr. 
Hatch's statements with regard to Dr. Pomeroy's licentious- 
ness to have been, either ignorantly or intentionally, false. 
He proceeded to state that he was well acquainted with all 
the facts in the case — his father having been at the time a 
fellow officer with Dr Pomeroy — and that he (Dr. P.) had 
not been guilty of licentiousness, but had simply been ' indis- 
creet, and allowed himself to be victimized by blackmailers,' 
as other good men before and since had done ; and further- 
more, that the money he paid out, in this case, was not from 
the Mission funds or from his salary, but from other funds 
in his possession. 

" Mr Hatch replied that the black-mailers could never 
have bled Dr. P., if he had not first by his immoralities 
placed himself in their power ; and, notwithstanding what 
Mr Treat had said, he had stated the facts correctly ; and 
the evidence was clear that Dr. P. was not an innocent vic- 
tim but a gross criminal. 

" As this matter has excited considerable discussion, and 
is a matter of public interest : and as Mr. Treat and his 
friends persist in the truth of this statement and the utter 
falsity of the statement of Mr. Hatch, it is thought best that 



THE SANCTIFIED. 275 

the evidence should be pubUshed in the Mirror^ and also in 
the Chro?iotype. 

"l. AN OFFICIAL STATEMENT. 

" To the Fublic : — Facts have come to the knowledge of 
the Prudential Committee A. B. C. F. M., deeply implicat- 
ing the moral character of Dr. Pomeroy, and rendering it 
impossible that he should longer retain his position as a 
Secretary of the Board. He has resigned and is no longer 
to be recognized as an officer of the Board. The facts 
referred to have no connection with his official action. 

" By order of the Prudential Committee. 

" Chas. Stoddard, (Chairman). 

"2. DR. POMEROY's confession. 

" The same paper gives the following as ' on reliable 
authority ' (probably Mr. Stoddard's), substantially the con- 
fession of Dr. P., as made to the Committee, after the 
conclusive evidence of his wrong doing was accidentally 
discovered, and he was confronted with it. 

" ' That some months ago he was walking out in the 
evening, and was accosted by a well dressed female, and at 
her request accompanied her to her home. While in the 
parlor in conversation with her, a man came in, and under 
the threat of exposure forced him to sign a note of $500; 
and subsequently he paid it. Since that he was enticed by 
another female into another house, and there two men 
assailed him, and forced him to sign another note for $5000, 
w^hich he subsequently paid. Another woman, by the repre- 
sentation that she was suffering with a dissipated husband 
and destitute children, enlisted his feelings, and he opened a 
correspondence with her, and subsequently, by the advice of 
Mr. Choate^ paid $500, to get his letters back, which he did 
and destroyed them.' 

'"These statements,' says the Journal^ 'Dr. P. admits 
to be true and nothing further.' 

" ' Nothing further ' is needed, I believe, to substantiate 
the truth of Mr. Hatch's statements ; but it may be as well 
to add— 

"3. his trial and conviction. 

" The Suffolk North Association of Ministers, of which 



276 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

Dr. Pomeroy was a member, brought his case to trial before 
them, May 2, i860 ; and after a careful sifting of the evidence 
they proceeded, by a unamimoiis vote, to convict him and 
expel him from their body, ^for conduct inconsistent with 
purity, virtue and morality' These last words are copied 
•from 'Result of Council.' 

" From this evidence the people of Marlboro' and 
Westboro' can judge for themselves if there has been 
'falsification,' and by whom,". 

So it goes. Men who began preaching with the purest 
motives and finally perceived the immoral influence of the 
clerical profession, have boldly testified to the fact. Parson 
Brownlow says : 

" I have no hesitancy in saying, as I now do, that the worst 
class of men who make tracks upon Southern soil are 
Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist and Episcopal clergymen, 
and at the head of these for mischief are the Southern 
Methodists." ^" 

"A majority of the clergy have acted upon the principle 
that the kingdom of their Divine Master is of ' this world ' ; 
and, as a consequence, too many of them have embarked in 
fighting, lying and drinking mean whiskey." f 

" Here, as in all parts of the South, the worst class of men 
are preachers. They have done more to bring about the 
deplorable state of things existing in the country than any 
other class of men. And foremost in this work of mischief 
are the Methodist preachers. Brave in anticipation of war, 
and prone to denunciation on all occasions, even in the 
pulpit, they have been among the first to take to their heels." % 

But I do not judge the body by the worst members of the 
profession. The facts I have given in this chapter prove 
that the Northern clergy are no saints. If the Southern 
clergy are much v^orse, then, take them " all in all " they are 
k "bad lot." 

^' Parson Brownlow's Book, p. 187. 
•f Brownlow's Book, p. 190. 
■ X Brownlow's Book, p. 392. 



THE SANCTIFIED. 277 

. In Revolutionary days traitors abounded among them. 

"In 1776, Samuel Chase, Judge of the United States 
Supreme Court and one of the signers of the Declaration of 
Independence, about which the 'Christian Conventions' 
prate so much, detected the Rev. Dr. Tubly, of Georgia, 
member of Congress, in carrying the secrets of that body to 
the enemy, and compelled him to beat an inglorious retreat 
from that body, to the British lines." — George K, Hazlitt. 

Capt. Geo. K. Hazlitt, of the io8th Illinois Volunteers, 
informs me that the Methodist Church South tendered and 
sold their building, together with all its machinery, (in 
Memphis, Tenn.,) to the Southern Confederacy, for an 
arsenal. 

Those arms stolen by the Confederacy from Jefferson Bar- 
racks, and shipped at St. Louis for Memphis, were captured 
by the Federals at Cairo, with full bills of lading directed to 
"Arsenal Methodist Publishing House, Memphis, Tenn." 

The clergy as a rule are moral cowards. They advocate 
such sentiments as are popular in their several localities. 
In favor of temperance when it is the prevailing sentiment 
of community, silent or opposed when unpopular. So even 
with slavery. Stephen S. Foster, when the war raged 
fiercely between abolitionists and pro-slaveryites declared that 
the clergy "in their ecclesiastical character ^^"^ have publicly 
defended the slave system as an innocent and heaven- 
ordained institution ; and have thrown the sacred sanctions 
of religion around it, by introducing it into the pulpit, and 
to the communion-table ! At the South, nearly the entire 
body of the clergy publicly advocate the perpetuity of slavery, 
and denounce the abolitionists as fanatics, incendiaries, and 
cut-throats ; and the churches and clergy of the North still 
fellowship them, and palm them off upon the world, as the 
ministers of Christ. I know it will be said, that there are 
exceptions to this charge ; but if there be any, I have yet to 
learn of them."^ I know not of a single ecclesiastical body 
in the country which has excommunicated any of its mem- 

* This was true, I believe, when Foster wrote these words. 



278 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER, 

bers for the crime of slave-holding, since the commencement 
of the anti-slavery enterprise, though most of them have cast 
out the true and faithful abolitionists from their communion." 
" To understand the true character of the American 
Church and clergy, and the full extent of their diabolism, 
you must hear them speak in their own language. Should I 
tell you the whole truth respecting them, and tell it in my 
own words, I fear you would entertain the same opinion of 
me which the Brahmin did of his English friend, who, on a 
certain occasion, as they were walking together along the 
banks of a beautiful river, admiring the richness of its 
scenery, iutprudently remarked, that in his country, during 
the winter season, the water became so solid that an elephant 
could walk upon it. The Brahmin replied, ' Sir, you have 
told me many strange and incredible things respecting your 
country before, yet I have always believed you to be a man 
of truth, but now I know you lie.' " 

" The Church and the clergy of the North voluntarily 
consented to become the watch dogs of the plantation." — S. 
S. Foster. 

The Louisville Commercial oi\}ciQ 15th of May, 1872, con- 
tains this notice of another clergyman off the track of rec- 
titude : 

" CRIME. 

''''Another Huston Scandal — A Former Kentucky Minister 
in Trouble. 

" St. Louis, May 14th. — Rev. Dr. E. F. Berkley, who, for 
fifteen years previous to a few months ago, was pastor of St. 
George's Episcopal Church of this city, was arraigned to-day 
before an Ecclesiastical Court on the charge of assault and 
battery on Ella C. Perry, eleven years old, but in reality for 
taking improper liberties with the child at different times 
during the summer of 1870. The proceedings of the court 
were public up to the time the testimony of Miss Perry was 
taken, when the doors were closed and her evidence is there- 
fore not known, 

" Mr. Berkley is fifty-nine years old ; was pastor of Christ 



THE SANCTIFIED. 279 

Church, Lexington, Kentucky, nineteen years before coming 
here, and until these charges were brought bore a spotless 
reputation. The court is composed of Rev. M. Sheets, of 
Monroe City ; Rev. M. Runcie, of St. Joseph ; Rev. D. 
Thrall, of Sedalia, and A. C. Judd, of Chicago. G. S. Van 
"Wagoner, of St. Louis, is the counsel for the defendant." 

Oh, certainly, they are all models of spotless piety until 
they are known. Close the doors so that the wicked public 
shall not know anything about how this old shepherd treated 
the lambs ! 

Worse and worse. I cannot be justly accused of reciting 
old and almost forgotten crimes of the clergy. In nearly 
every daily paper there is recorded clerical offences against 
good order and decency. A case of free-lustism has just 
transpired at Shabona, Illinois, which the Chicago Times 
thus serves up : 

" LASCIVIOUS DOINGS OF REV. E. G. RIBBLE, SHABONA, ILL. 

^' Niimerotcs Farmers' Daughters Sacrificed on the Altar of 
His Unholy Lusts — Previous History of the Shameless 
Shepherd. 

" The Rev. Dr. Huston, of Baltimore, accounts of whose 
misdoings have burdened the telegraph for some months 
past, and furnished matter for newspaper comment from 
Maine to Oregon, is respectfully requested to hide his 
diminished head. The champion clerical scandal belt, which 
he wore with so much grace, has been ruthlessly torn from 
his grasp, and now adorns a brother minister not enjoying 
one-fourth of his perquisites, stationed at a mere settlement 
on an Illinois prairie. A short dispatch dated Shabona, 
DeKalb county, Illinois, published in the Times on Sunday 
morning, announced that a report was current there that a 
Methodist minister named E. G. Ribble, had seduced several 
young girls of his flock, and succeeded in effecting his escape. 
On receipt of the information a reporter of the Times was 
dispatched to the scene of the alleged outrages, and after a 
brief sojourn in the neighborhood, has succeeded in possess- 
ing himself of a net-work of facts which will ever stamp 
these disclosures as among the most remarkable clerical 
scandals on record. 



28o THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

" The village of Shabona, situated at the southern extremity! 
of DeKalb county, about sixty miles due west from Chicago, 
is an old settlement, dating from the time when the Indian 
chief after whom it is named still held sway in that region. 
Although of such ancient and honorable lineage, it never 
attained to the dignity of a corporate town, and now, as thirty 
years ago, consists of less than a score of houses. Modern 
railroads have given it the go-by, and at no distant day it 
will follow the old chief to the grave. But this old Indiaa 
settlement, from time immemorial, has been a recognized 
religious centre sending out the Word for twenty miles around,, 
and two tall spires still adorn the one street of the village^ 
It was in one of these that the reverend Lothario held forth. 
with an unction never to be forgotten. But his spiritual 
labors were not confined to Shabona. A little white church,. 
six miles away, situated in what is known as the English 
settlement, and another an equal distance in an opposite 
! direction, divided his attention in three equal parts, though 
his home was fixed in Shabona. The munificent salary of 
the shepherd of all these various flocks is $600, which sum 
was fixed by the Rock River conference, when it placed him 
in charge, less than one year ago. He came with a clear bill, 
was highly recommended by that august body to the arca- 
dian residents of the grove and the settlement who welcomed 
him with open arms, and to-day will tell the wayfarer that 
they never had a minister among them who was so well- 
beloved and brought so many sinners to grace. 

" The English settlement soon became a favorite field for 
his labors, and last winter he instituted a series of protracted 
meetings, which were largely attended by the young people 
of the neighborhood. After the service it was customary 
with him to take one of the young ladies of his flock in his. 
buggy, drive her home, and remain at the house of her pa- 
rents for the night. He showed no partiality in these favors, 
and during the protracted meetings near a dozen different 
girls accompanied him. The parents being worthy, honest, 
well-to-do farmers, residing within a circle of five or six 
miles, were rather pleased to see their daughters in such pious 
company, never entertaining a suspicion that their lambs 
could come to grief at the hands of so pious a Christian and 
himself the father of an interesting family of three children, 
the eldest past ten years of age. In time the good shepherd 
evinced more discrimination and selected only three or four 
young girls, each in the neighborhood of sixteen years, as the 
special objects of his pious attentions, and now and then h^ 



THE SANCTIFIED. ; 251 

would devote himself to a single one for three or four even- 
ings in succession. During the spring, in the seed time, 
there was a lull in the religious exercises, but about a month 
ago they again opened with an unwonted furore and continued 
for several weeks. During the period he again devoted 
himself to the young girls of his flock with his old warmth, 
though exciting no suspicion until near the close of the series. 
One of the young girls to whom he paid special attention is 
named Mary Holmes. She lost her mother less than a year 
ago, and with her father was the only occupant of the old 
farm house. The girl suddenly evinced a strong dislike to 
her shepherd, and refused to go to meeting. She was ques- 
tioned regarding her aversion, but for a long time refused to 
give any explanation. Finally she confided her secret to a 
young girl in the neighborhood, who in turn related it to her 
mother, she to her husband, and he to Mr. Holmes. The 
old father refused to believe the story when told, and 
expressed great indignation that his daughter should retail 
such horrible stories about their beloved minister. However, 
he questioned the young girl himself, and by her truthful 
manner soon became convinced that her tale was founded on 
truth. 

" The story she told was substantially as follows : 
" One evening after protracted meeting she accompanied 
the Rev. Ribble to her home, where he expressed a desire to 
remain all night. During the drive his conduct somewhat 
startled her — it was so extremely loving in its nature — but as 
she had become a recent convert of his, she concluded that 
his feelings were the result of religious ardor. On retiring,, 
the house being a small one, she gave up her bedroom to the 
visitor, and betook herself to a lounge in the sitting-room, 
while her father camped in the garret. During the night she 
was suddenly awakened by some one touching her person^ 
and, on opening her eyes, beheld the parson by her side. 
Her first impulse was to scream, but she . became reassured 
when her visitor soothingly remarked, ' Don't be afraid, 
Mary, I won't hurt you ; I only came to see if you were 
sleeping well, as a young Christian should. Although in 
dishabille, he coolly seated himself on the outer rim of the 
lounge, and before long made the proposal to her to share 
his bed with him, saying it was so much nicer than the hard 
lounge, and that He was loathe to see one of his pets so 
inconvenienced. The young girl refused to be guided by 
his suggestion, and begged of him to leave her. He again 
reassured her that he meant no harm, and . then said, ' Mary, 



282 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

if you will not come to my room, give me a place for the 
night on the lounge with you.' The girl now became thor- 
oughly alarmed, and jumping from the couch, ran up stairs 
and lay for the rest of the night on the hard, bare floor. 

" Old Mr. Holmes gave credence to the story of his 
daughter on hearing it from her own lips, and concluded to 
give the matter further attention. To this end he called 
upon his neighbors for counsel, a meeting of the vestry was 
held, and it was proposed to have a serious talk with the 
parson. On Sunday week the purpose was carried into 
effect. A committee of four of the most reputable members 
of the congregation were appointed to wait upon their 
beloved shepherd for the purpose of hearing an explanation. 
Before the service was over they retired and stood outside 
debating matters. When the services concluded, and the 
elder (as the people generally call him) was coming out of 
the church, he noticed the men standing a little way apart 
engaged in earnest conversation. He turned very pale on 
seeing them. Some hidden monitor evidently informed him 
that he was the subject of their confab, and so he beckoned 
them, and said he would like a few moments conversation 
with them. He then led the way to the rear of the church, 
and stopping, pathetically exclaimed, ' I am guilty, but don't 
kill me, don't kill me, don't kill me,' repeating the latter 
half of the sentence three times. The committee were not 
a little astonished at this outburst, especially as they had 
reason to suppose that he had no knowledge of their mission, 
and they hastened to reassure him. This was evidently 
not what he had expected — it was as proof to him that all 
was not known — and he took heart. He was then questioned 
regarding his conduct toward Miss Holmes, and confessed 
that he had kissed her, but with no evil intentions. What- 
ever the private opinion of the committee may have been, 
they gave no voice to it, and, as no serious harm had been 
done, in order to avoid scandal they concluded to hush up 
the matter. 

" Among the committee was a farmer named William Cutts, 
who is the father of a prepossessing daughter, about seven- 
teen years of age,^ named Emily. When the old man had 
left the parson he was suddenly overcome by an undefined 
feeling of dread. As he remarked to the reporter of the 
Times^ ' I felt as if some one had knocked me all of a heap; 
I thought of my Emily and remembered that that scoundrel 
had driven her out just as he had Holmes' daughter. I went 
home in fear and trembling. I called my wife and said to 



THE SANCTIFIED. 283 

her, ' Mother, I want you to talk to Emily and ask her if 
she has had anything to do with the elder.' My wife would 
not do it at first. She said it was nonsense, but I told her 
to do it, and so she went into the house, and says she, Emily, 
come here, I want to talk to you as a Christian mother to her 
Christian daughter. Don't be afraid, tell me all you know ; 
have you had any dealings with the elder } ' When Emily 
heard this she began to cry, and my fears became greater. 
My wife again said, ' Emily, tell me all — tell me the whole 
truth,' and then my daughter told me what I thought would 
make me crazy. It's a week ago, and my wife hasn't eaten 
anything since, and I'm afraid she'll never get over it.' At 
this point the sturdy old farmer broke down, and sobbed 
like a child. When he had commanded himself sufficiently 
he related the story of his daughter's wrongs. 

" It appears that about a month ago a protracted meeting 
was held at the house of Samuel Cutts, a brother of W^illiam, 
and Emily was in attendance. On returning one night the 
obliging minister asked the girl to ride with him in his buggy, 
a proposition to which she readily assented. When they had 
proceeded about half a mile, on entering a grove, the min- 
ister began taking liberties with her person. She resisted 
his advances until she was overcome, and when her strength 
was overcome he accomplished his purpose. The girl wept 
bitterly and would not be comforted. At first he used 
gentle words of persuasion, endeavoring to convince her that 
no harm had been done, but when he found that soft words 
were of no avail, and she still insisted on telling her parents, 
he suddenly changed his mien, and threatened her life if ever 
she dared to breathe a word of the events of that evening. 
He finally succeeded in calming her, and drove to the house 
of her parents, where he remained all night. The next 
morning he borrowed $25 from a neighbor and went on his 
way rejoicing. When Mr. Cutts had been placed in full 
possession of these details, he was nearly frantic with rage, 
and called upon his neighbors for advice what to do. They 
counseled moderation, and in the mean time appointed 
another committee to wait upon the parson at Shabona, 
When they approached him one of them remarked, ' You 
had better keep out of the way of Mr. Cutts or he will shoot 
you.' No sooner had the man uttered these words, than the 
godly minister took to his heels and made for a grove in the 
rear of the village. He was followed by a man named Ken- 
nedy, who finally succeeded in overtaking him. The latter 
exclaimed, ' I have fallen from grace. I fell about six weeks 



284. THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

ago, after a revival meeting where I had converted Miss- 
Holmes, and she fell about my neck and kissed me, and I 
kissed her in retu'-n. That was the beginning of my fall.' 

" Mr. Cutts in the mean time had procured a warrant from^ 
Justice Wormley, charging Ribble with the crime of rape., 
The paper was placed in the hands of a constable who pro-, 
ceeded to Shabona the following day, Friday, When he 
reached the church, the delectable elder was preaching a 
funeral sermon over the body of a child. The humane 
constable allowed him to finish his discourse, and when the 
people had left the church, he approached the minister and 
informed him that he was under arrest. The officer thea 
took him before Esquire Alexander, who refused to entertain 
the case on account of a defect in the warrant, it appearing 
that no place was designated where the crime is alleged to 
have been committed. The constable, nothing daunted, 
proceeded with his charge a distance of six miles, to the 
house of Justice Wormley, who had issued the warrant, but 
this court also perceived and took cognizance of the defect 
and declared the prisoner discharged until another^warrant 
could be issued. By this time darkness had approached,, 
and when Ribble heard that he was discharged he quickly 
picked up his hat and ran out of the house, and in a few 
moments had disappeared from view. 

" It appears that he met a friend with a buggy near the 
place who assisted him to Shabona. No sooner had he 
arrived at his home, than he set about to effect his escape. 
He disposed of a horse and buggy for little more than half 
its value, kept some money himself, gave the rest to his wife, 
and then borrowed a horse and buggy from one of liis con- 
verts, named Miles Scott, and drove rapidly to Earle, on the 
Chicago and Burlington railroad, took the train, and has not 
been seen or heard of since. It is believed, however, that 
he has gone to the State of New York, where his parents 
reside. 

" The neighborhood is filled with rumors of other cases of 
violence, and the names of three or four other girls are 
bandied about, but as these have made no confession, how- 
ever seriously they may have been sinned against, or are 
sinners, it would be unjust to publish their names to the 
world. There is, however, little doubt that at least one 
more fell under the elder's blandishments. 

" Before the revelations were made public no man stood 
higher in the estimation of the community where ill-fortune 
placed him, than this man Ribble. Before his arrival the 



THE SANCTIFIED. '285 

church in the EngHsh settlement was divided. Me united 
it, and brought many new converts into the fold. The people 
all loved him, and he himself remarked to one of his flock 
before he left, I feel because all my people loved me so 
much,' Said old man Cutts * I never took a man so much 
to my heart as I did this elder 1 loved him as I would my 
own son. But he has betrayed me cruelly ' Said old man 
Kennedy, a bit of a wag: ' If he had taken to some of our 
old w^omen, who are always crazy about the parsons, I would 
not have cared so. It would have served them right. But 
to take our little lambs. It's too bad. The trouble was he 
was too well fed, and didn't work enough. The next one we 
get Ave'll give him less fodder and more work.' 

" The absconding parson left behind him a devoted wife 
and a family of three interesting children, who will soon fall 
upon the church for support. It is true, she says she has 
faith in her husband's innocence, but as the presiding elder 
of the district. Rev Mr. Jewett, remarked to the Times 
reporter, ' she says it in a way that shows she has serious 
doubts.' 

" Presiding Elder Jewett, of Aurora, visited the settlement 
on Monday, and on an investigation he has concluded to call 
a committee of ministers to investigate the charges. This 
<:ommittee will consist of Rev. W. Cone, af. Earl, Rev. J. S. 
David, of Arlington, Rev. H. W. Stoddard, of Blackberry, 
■'Rev. N. O. Freeman, of Clinton, Rev. W. H. Haight, of 
-Paw Paw, and Revs. J. F. Yates, W. D. Atchison, and S. 
P. Keys, of Aurora. 

" During an interview the Times reporter had with Presid- 
ing Elder Jewett, at Aurora, the latter expressed a belief 
in Ribble's guilt, which impression was confirmed by the 
latter's escape, and expressed his determination to give the 
case a careful investigation. 

" This man Ribble has behind him one of the most re- 
markable careers on record, and so curiously is it interwoven 
with the Methodist Episcopal Church, as represented by the 
•Rock River Conference, that this body will be very generally 
■called upon to ' rise and explain.' 

" Ribble hails from Niagara county, State of New York. 
-He came West a young man, and skirmished about in the 
neighborhood of Ottawa for some years, being generally 
regarded one of the most dissolute persons in that neighbor- 
hood. In 1858 he lived for some time in the town of 
Marengo, where he fully sustained his old reputation. One 
night in company with a lot of rowdies, he broke into the 



286 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

abode of an old widow lady, and in sheer wantonness, drank 
her milk and broke her crockery ware. This escapade cre- 
ated intense indignation in the neighborhood, and there was 
talk of inviting the perpetrators to leave town. On the 
following evening Ribble attended church, and ' got religion." 
How much, the reader can judge for himself after perusing 
his subsequent history. He soon began to ' travel ' on what 
he ' got ' at that meeting. He first launched out in little 
prayers, and recitals of experience, which must have been 
extremely edifying if he told all he knew ; but soon he felt 
'a call ' and began to preach. At this time he was associa- 
ted with what are termed the Free Methodists. In i860 he 
married his present wife, whose parents were then living near 
Aurora. She is a lady who has ever been highly respected, 
and has the sincere commiseration of all good people. 
Shortly after the event the young couple moved to Freeport, 
where Ribble began to preach in a regular way. He was in 
great favor with his brethren and sisters until it began to be 
whispered abroad that his conduct was not all that it should 
be, and he was got rid of before the scandal became very 
public. He next filled an appointment at Marengo, the place 
of his conversion. The report of his misdoings had not 
reached this rural settlement, and he was well received. But 
Satan again took full possession of him. His doings soon 
became town talk. 

" Hitherto he had confined his attentions principally to 
married ladies and widows, but at this place he changed his 
tactics. He laid special siege to the affections of a beautiful 
young girl, the daughter of one of the most respectable 
citizens in the county. He induced her to correspond with 
him, and in this way succeeded in planning an appointment, 
which, had it come to pass, would doubtless have resulted in 
the ruin of the confiding girl. Happily the note conveying 
her consent to the appointment was intercepted. The news 
of the afi"air got abroad, and the young men of the village 
prepared a pot of tar, and having procured a bag of feathers, 
were about to decorate him, when some of the older mem- 
bers succeeded in appeasing the wrath of the crowd, on the 
promise of Ribble that he would leave the place instantly. 

" This interesting expounder of the gospel next appeared 
in his old role at St. Charles, the citizens of which place 
would none of his tricks, and the church preferred charges 
against him. 

" A council of twelve promment members of the church 
and ministers were convened and prepared nine different 



THE SANCTIFIED. 287 

counts against him, under the general headings of ' illicit 
intercourse,' 'taking unjustifiable liberties with the persons 
of women belonging to his congregation,' and 'for using 
insulting language.' No testimony was taken before the 
committee, as he plead ' guilty ' to each one of the charges, 
and he was accordingly deposed from the ministry of the 
Free Methodists. 

" This trial created considerable excitement at the time, 
and many censured the committee for undue severity. This 
event occurred in 1865. Ribble held aloof for a year or 
two, and then made his appearance among the Methodist 
Episcopalians. He was accepted on probation and assigned 
to the village of Little Rock, about fifteen miles west of 
Aurora. The good people of this settlement were not 
altogether pleased with this allotment, and they appealed to 
the presiding elder of the district, Mr. Fuller. He was 
indorsed by the presiding elder. 

" This ecclesiastical functionary thereupon appeared before 
tl:^'e-people and told them that he had thoroughly investiga- 
ted the charges preferred against Mr. Ribble, and was 
convinced they were not true, being incited by envy and 
malice. This opinion was delivered by Elder Fuller, in spite 
of the many proofs of guilt accumulated by the committee, 
to which he had access, and which are still preserved. The 
people of Little Rock were soon convinced, however, that 
Fuller's indorsement must be accepted with a good many 
grains of allowance. In connection with his clerical duties, 
Ribble taught the young ideas of that neighborhood how to 
shoot. Among his pupils were a number of nearly full- 
grown young ladies, who soon began to complain that their 
teacher was in the habit of taking undue liberties with their 
persons, and the said teacher was transferred just in time to 
prevent an exposure. 

" Ribble next appeared at Wyandotte, where he preached 
for two years, and so far as known, conducted himself with 
some attempts at decency. At the Rock River Conference, 
held last August, he was admitted to full membership, and 
assigned to Shabona." — Chicago Times^ July 11^ i8'j2. 

Editorially the Ti77ies said : 

" The Methodist Episcopal Church has certainly been 
peculiarly unfortunate of late in the number and character 
of its contributions to the vast volume of clerical scandals. 
But the facts concerning the recent affair at Shabona, in this 



288 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

State, which are recited in an article pubHshed this morning, 
would seem to suggest some doubts whether the Church is 
not itself to blame in part for the frequent damaging develop- 
ments against its clergymen. It would appear, for example, 
that Ribble having previously been deposed from the minis- 
try of the Free Methodist Church for grossly improper 
conduct, was accepted as a minister of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church in the full knowledge of this fact. If it may 
be inferred from such circumstances as this that the latter 
Church does not maintain a high standard of qualification 
for its ministry, the Church cannot hope to escape the full 
responsibility for such scandalous occurrences." 

True, the clergy do not like the Chicago Tiines^ but as an 
accurate reporter of news it is admitted by the press gener- 
ally that it has few if any equals. 

■ In its edition of July 12th, it has the following temperate 
editorial : 

"clerical scandals. 

" It is with extreme regret that the journalist, interested 
in the permanence and strictness of social institutions, feels 
obliged to comment on the gross immorality prevalent in 
society. The regret becomes all the deeper when that 
immorality crops out in quarters to which society naturally 
looks for the most shining examples of continence, temper- 
ance, and all the other cardinal virtues. Poor, imperfect 
human nature instinctively seeks with longing eyes to find a 
bright exemplar, the effulgence of which will shed light on 
its own dark and stumbling steps. But when the ambassa- 
dors of the Lord are found to hide under their sacred gowns 
passions no less rampant and ungovernable than those against 
which they threaten the terrors of hell in their weekly ser- 
mons, even the optimist may be pardoned for a tear of 
anguish, and the cynic for a sneer more steeped in vitriol 
than before. Were the Protestant clergy, like their Catholic 
brethren, debarred from a natural and legitimate channel for 
the relief of human instincts, their derelictions could be 
palliated ; but when a lawful outlet in alliance with the sacred 
vows they have taken on themselves is only as the withes 
that bound Sampson, there must be indeed something rotten 
in the Church. 
' " For several months past the public journals have been 



THE SANCTIFIED. 289 

full of this sort of bon-bons for the morbid taste of the lovers 
of sensation. Nearly every large city in the country has 
furnished at least one flagrant case of unbridled licentious- 
ness among the brethren of the gown. These trumpeters in 
the army of the church militant have followed the injunction 
of the Bible, to be as wise as serpents, but not to be as 
innocent as doves. They have looked on the lambs of the 
flocks over which they have been set, not as things to be 
tenderly guarded and nurtured, but as legitimate spoil for 
their own private appetites. 

" The case of the reverend rascal Ribble, whose salacious 
pranks at Shabona, in this State, have just come to light, is a 
worthy supplement to the many others which have been going 
the rounds of the prints. The beastly details of this clerical 
wolf's exploits are not fit to be alluded to except in the most 
general terms. 

" The clergyman, like the physician, has extraordinary 
facilities for the commission of a certain class of crimes, and 
those facilities are such as to heap double damnation on him 
if he is sufficiently diabolical to make use of them. One 
peculiar feature of such cases generally is, that the reverend 
sinner aims to rifle the sweetness from the very flower and 
budding life of the congregation. One worthy deacon, in 
commenting on the reverend Kibble's exploits, is said to 
have bewailed, with an almost laughable earnestness, the fact 
that it was only the tender lambs which seemed to suit the 
fastidious appetite of the ministerial Lothario. If it were 
only the bell-wethers, the old maids, the scrawny and 
antiquated matrons, there would be no matter of special 
complaint. But that the parson who was commanded by 
scriptural injunction to think not what he should eat and 
drink, should be such a gowuiet as to prefer lamb to mutton 
— that was the last hair that broke the camel's back. The 
worthy deacon did not reflect as to the impracticability of 
the suggestion, and failed to recall the fact that the extraor- 
dinary and overweening confidence placed in clergymen, 
while it is an effectual bar — independent of religious duty — 
to the honorable man, leaves an open gateway for hidden 
lusts. Clergymen may be reasonably supposed to be as 
fastidious in their amorous tastes as the Gentiles outside of 
the pale of the communion. 

" Tw^o pressing suggestions forced on the mind by this 
and similar cases are the extreme laxity which has com- 
menced to govern certain denominations in accepting 
candidates for sacred orders, and the mildness v/ith which 



290 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

lesser offences that infallibly lead to greater ones are excused, 
Caesar's wife should be above suspicion, and the first stain 
that sullies the clerical ermine is a blot that never can be 
expunged. Ecclesiastical commissions may attempt, on the 
ground of expediency, to pronounce the charges false or 
exaggerated, but if there is the slightest proof of such indis- 
cretion it should ever debar the accused from continuing in 
his sacred office. The facts in the past life of the man Ribble 
show that similar exploits were whitewashed at former times 
by the official actions of denominational bodies, and that 
instead of being branded on his forehead he was turned 
loose to seek 'green fields and pastures new.' Until the 
action of denominational bodies becomes inspired by a rigid 
severity, by scrupulous care in warning their brethren abroad 
of the character of the wolves in sheep's clothing. Christians 
may expect to be scandalized week by week and month by 
month with these examples of clerical depravity." 

I fear my readers may infer from these facts that the clergy 
are not as virtuous as other men, notwithstanding they so 
loudly profess to be moral and religious exemplars, and 
hence, the only class, as a class, that should be reverenced, 
and, if need be, they and their friends elected to administer 
this government in a Christian manner. But it should be 
remembered that their temptations are greater than those of 
other men. The pernicious notion that the imaginary influ- 
ence called " divine grace " could make the nature of men 
and women anything else than human nature, has been a 
prolific cause of crime in "holy circles," because the barriers 
of self-restraint have all been removed. The clergy advocate 
a system of religion which leads them to depend upon some- 
thing or somebody, outside of self, for support. And when 
they do sin, the elastic element of their system — vicarious 
atonement — covers it, so that crime will not appear against 
them. 

While it indeed is not a pleasant task to hold up before 
the public gaze the short-comings of our fellow-beings, it 
becomes, in a case like this, a duty which cannot be ignored 
on any sentimental plea of sickly charity. Charity never 
favors crime. No Christian condemns Jesus Christ because 



THE SANCTIFIED, 29 1 

he denounced in such a severe way the corruptions of the 
Pharisees. Those Pharisees exalted themselves as patterns 
of piety. So do the clergy of to-day. The world would 
probably have suffered little, if any, had there been no 
Pharisees nor Phariseeism. It can as easily dispense with 
Christianity and its clergy, and be all the better for it. All 
efforts to separate the immorality of the clergy from the sys- 
tem they constantly promulgate, is unavailing. Immorality 
is the logical sequence of Christian teaching. If the large 
percentage of moral church-members is supposed to contra- 
dict this statement, I affirm that moral church-members are 
not logical. They are moral in spite of the system. They 
are compelled to admit that however immoral they may have 
been, are, or may be, they can be forgiven, and every sin, 
from the least to the greatest, can be cancelled. But Nature 
holds the culprit strictly responsible. This may be one 
reason why Christians are not over friendly to Nature 

I have said that the " sacred calling " of the clergy is no 
bar to immorality. This statement is fully sustained by a 
Monthly journal, called the Fulpit^ published in Chicago, and 
devoted to the Orthodox religion. It printed the following 
truthful article : 

" We infer from what we hear in private conversation, and 
what we read in the public journals, that the public think it 
very marvelous that so many of the clergy are wrecked upon 
the rock of sensuality. The astonishment is not astonishing. 
People who do not make a habit of thinking, will hardly be 
thoughtful enough to know the fact with reference to this 
matter. The fact is that there is no profession, class or 
avocation, so exposed to or tempted by the devil of sensuality 
as the ministry. The very sanctity of their office is an occa- 
sion of their stumbling. The office is confounded with its 
occupant. The sanctity of the former is made the posses- 
sion of the latter. Now, the office is an invulnerable myth : 
its occupant is a man of like passions with other men. 

" No temptation is sufficient to overcome the office, while 
so stout-faithed an occupant of it as Peter, the apostle, may 
fall grievously at the first approach of the adversary. Un- 



292 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

thinking women may seem to be only tempting the office, 
when they are unwittingly laying snares for its occupant. By 
their persistent exhibition of confidence in the office they 
are confiding persistently in its occupant. And so it comes 
to pass in this way that the minister, with all his flesh and 
blood about him, has the door of temptation thrown open to 
him and then closed behind him. Blind confiding on the 
one side, and the unguarded sociability on the other, lead to 
equivocal circumstances as to both. 

" No man in the world has so few conditions imposed upon 
him at the threshold of society as the clergyman. His pass- 
port to social life is almost a carte blanche. Women of both 
states [married and single] and all ages are his companions, 
socially and professionally. The rules of social intercom- 
munication between the sexes are, in his case, virtually 
suspended. What would be an indiscretion with other men 
is a matter of course with him. He shares, or is alternately 
admitted to the privacy of the sick room with the physician. 
Wherever spiritual advice is called for, there he reigns alone 
and unmolested. And he is a sedentary man, of nervous- 
sanguine temperament, and, like all men of this sort and life, 
feels the law of his flesh warring against the law of his 
religion. None have such temptations as those of sedentary 
life. In proportion to the idleness of the muscles, is the 
activity of the passions. The devil tempts the industrious; 
idle men tempt the devil. The clergy should give more 
earnest heed to 'muscular Christianity.' 

" But not only is their life afflicted with deficiency in 
bodily exercise, it is additionally accursed with the tempta- 
tions that take advantage of this physical feebleness. Half 
the crimes of sensuality come of physical feebleness. Con- 
sidering, then, this sandy-haired composition, this nervous 
combustibility, this superabundance of sexual heat from a 
deficiency in physical exertion and this extraordinary expos- 
ure to the wiles of the wicked, and the insinuating influences 
of unsuspicion, the marvel, nay, the miracle is not that so 
many but so few of the clergy fall into the sins of sensuality. 
The wonder is,, not that so many yield, but that so many 
stand firm. 

" And so far from these clerical sins of sensuality being 
the inexplicable lapses they are represented to be by the 
public press and the private Grundys, they are not only the 
least surprising but the most excusable sins the clergy can 
commit. But we do not excuse, we explain them. We are 
giving their comparative and not their actual criminality. 



THE SANCTIFIED. 293 

" While we regard a sudden trip into sensual sin as com- 
paratively the most excusable of the obliquities of which the 
clergy can be guilty, we certainly advise all those who are 
thus guilty, or feel themselves in danger of being, to quit the 
pulpit at once and forever. And let none go to the sacred 
office who are not strong in the flesh as well as in the Lord, 
and let the physically feeble who are in it leave it, lest a 
worse fate come upon them. Divine grace will not make 
amends for physical infirmities. 

" As for seduction, that is a crime than which none are 
more heinous, infernal and damnable, let who will commit 
it. The man who is convicted of it deserves every twinge 
of the torture to which he can be subjected by the retribu- 
tive laws of the Divine Government. Nor is there any 
explanation to be offered for that horrible species of the 
genus sensuality, of which several clergymen in this country 
have recently been found guilty, and which shall be nameless 
here. Such offences are very peculiarly odious and abhor- 
rent, in view of the fact that sensual gratification is not 
possible without adding more than one to the number of the 
debauched. 

" Let these putrid brethren be cut off and put away, and 
let there be a rigorous endeavor to lift the standard of Cleri- 
cal purity in the above, as well as in every other respect ; 
but let it be remembered also that the steadfastness of the 
clergy is a matter of amazement, when the considerations 
we have named are taken into the account." 

" Steadfastness of the Clergy is a matter of amazement," 
considering their dangerous and trying situation ! But they 
claim to have '' divine grace " to keep them from sin I Where 
is the "grace"? Says the PiUpit^ "What would be an 
indiscretion with other men is a matter of course " with the 
clergy. In other words if the same degree of familiarity 
between the sexes prevailed among people in general, that 
obtains among the clergy and their fair parishioners, we would 
have social anarchy. The Pulpit asserts that the minister 
has fewer conditions imposed upon him than any other man 
in the world, " the door of temptation thrown open to him 
and then closed behind him." "There," says the Pulpit, 
"he reigns alone and unmolested." He is there to give 
spiritual advice " alone and unmolested " ! " The miracle 



294 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

is," says the Pulpit^ "not that so many but so few of the 
clergy fall into the sins of sensuality." Does the Pulpit 
know how many fall of whom the public never hear .? Is the 
public made acquainted with all the cases .? Are not strenu- 
ous efforts almost invariably made to conceal the crimes of 
their pastors .^ The boasted purity of these " saintly " men, 
is as empty as their theology is hollow. They teach the 
blinded that if it were not for their holy office, and their own 
very immaculate persons as the " chosen of the Lord " this 
world would soon become immoral beyond the possibility of 
reclamation. They are Saints in name, but in practice are 
passionate, vindictive, bigoted, envious, jealous, conceited, 
love to be thought holy and above all like to be fondled, 
petted, 7'evere7iced by their sheep and lambs. Yet there are 
some good men among them, men who love their fellow-men, 
but as a profession there is no class more immoral than the 
Clergy. As a body they will not compare with the legal 
profession, either in intellect or morals. There is scarcely a 
crime which has not been committed by the Clergy Were 
it not for their foolish assumption that they are holier than 
the generality of mankind their depravity might be charged 
to the imperfections of human nature. They would then be, 
like other unfortunates, objects of pity, and the kindly hand 
would be extended to reclaim them. But in most cases they 
deem human aid and sympathy of minor importance, and 
settle their accounts with God. Their teaching is calculated 
to undermine the foundations of man's moral nature. How-^ 
ever atrocious their crimes they can have them all washed 
away in the "blood of Christ." Such a doctrine is demor- 
alizing. Faith in preference to works is their favorite 
principle. Merit, they teach, will not win heaven, and their 
lives prove they expect to enter that harbor by Dead-head 
Pass. 

The cause of so much crime among the Clergy lies deeper 
than the Chicago Pulpit could see or would admit. It is not 
only the delicate and tender relation which the Clergy bear 
to the female members of their flocks, subjecting them to the 



THE SANCTIFIED. 295 

*' insinuating influences of unsuspicion " that is a cause of 
their sinful practices. There is one force still more powerful 
— their religioji. It allows them to sin without limit, pro- 
vided they wash themselves in figurative blood. 

The immoral tendency of the Christian religion is illustrat- 
ed in the following Scripture and poetry, published by the 
Dublin Tract Repository, entitled "Leaflets for Letters, 
Gospel No. ■^'^y This and other kindred publications are 
distributed in Boston and elsewhere by agents of the Young 
Men's Christian Association : 

"deadly doing. 

" ' How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal 
Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from 
DEAD WORKS to Serve the living God.' — {Heb. ix : 14.) 

" ' By the works of the law shall no flesh t)e justified.' — {Gal. ii : 16.) 

" What, then, must I DO to be saved? 

" Nothing, either great or small, 
Nothing, sinner, no ; 
Jesus did it — did it all, 
Long, long ago. 

" ^Yhen he from his lofty throne 
Stoop'd to do and die. 
Everything was fully done. 
Hearken to his cry — 

" ' It is Fixish'd ! ' Yes ; indeed, 

Finish'd every jot. '^ 

Sinner, this is all you need ; 
Tell me, is it not ? 

" Weary, working, burden'd one, 
Y^hy toil you so ? 
Cease yotir doing ; all was done 
Long, long ago. 

" Till to Jesus' work you cling 

By a simple faith, 
* Doing ' is a deadly thing — 
' Doing ' ends in death. 

" Cast your deadly ' doing ' down — 

Down at Jesus' feet ; ■- 

Stand ' IN him ' — in him alone, 
Gloriously ' complete ! ' * 

* " Ye are complete in him. — {Col. ii : 10.)" 



296 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

Religious papers are teaching this. The North- Western 
CJiristian Advocate says that God is glorifying himself by 
the disorders in the world. This accords with what Dr. 
Emmons, of New England taught, that " it always was, and 
is, and will be, God's secret will, that all things shall take 
place, which he sees will best promote his own glory and the 
highest good of the Universe, whether they are good or evily 
right or wrongs in their own nature." 

Society is corrupted with this kind of literature. The vicious 
teaching begins with the little child who is required to com- 
mit to memory, " A Short Catechism for Young Children ": 
Question : " What kind of a heart have you by nature .? " 
Answer. " A heart filled with all unrighteousness." Ques- 
tion. " Does your wicked heart make all your thoughts^ 
words 2ind actio7is sinful.?" Answer. "Yes; I do nothing 
hut siny Question. " Can you of yourself reform and 
renew your wicked heart 'i " Answer. " No ; I am dead in 
trespasses and sin," 

Is it surprising that humanity is no better than it is .? The 
New York Tribune reports that at a Synod of the Reformed 
Presbyterian Church "the Rev. James Wallace of St. Louis 
said the Sabbath School may be made use of for very evil 
purposes. Sabbath Schools, as usually conducted, are very 
great evils, and ones which Presbyterianism deplores. He 
had a conversation with the Rev. Mr. McKinley, a Presby- 
terian clergyman in Champaign City, Illinois, who pronounced 
the Sabbath School to be one of the greatest evils of the 
times. Four-fifths of the convicts in the New-York Peni- 
tentiary, he said, were found to be Sabbath School scholars." 

This statement was vehemently denied by several of the 
Clergy present. But such teaching as they impart from 
week to week must inevitably lead to such a result. It is 
no escape to say that the Short Catechism is used in but few 
Orthodox Sunday Schools at the present time. The same 
sentiments are embodied in their juvenile literature. In a 
small Sunday School paper entitled the " Little Folks," 
Vol. 3, No. 37, is the following lesson : 



THE SANCTIFIED. 297 

" Out of marble a figure looking just like a person may be 
cut, but the marble cannot move, or do anything with its 
eyes, or hands, or feet, because it has no life. Just so is a 
person who thinks he can get to heaven by being good. Jesus 
in the heart gives eternal life — nothing else can — and if we 
would have eternal life, we must be willing to give up all that 
we have for Jesus' sake." " Little friend, do you think if 
you never lie, swear, cheat, and are good to your parents and 
friends, you will go to heaven ? If you do, you are wrong. 
Only to be good can never take any one to heaven." 

In No, 38 occurs this paragraph : 

" Jesus gives everlasting life. But he does not give it to 
those who try to get it by being good or doing many good 
works. The master in the vineyard did not pay money for 
work, neither does Jesus pay everlasting life for good acts. 
He will not let any one ear7i everlasting life for fear it would 
make proud hearts, so he ]M'i\. gives it to all who believe that 
he died for their sins. The great, strong man who can do 
much work for Christ is no surer of eternal life than a weak 
little child who believes in Jesus, and loves him." 

And so the children terminate their careers as criminals, 
unless their natural sense of justice rebels against such 
teaching. No wonder so many of the Clergy become wrecks. 

Christianity cannot show as pure a record as Paganism. 
It claims the honor of establishing peace and good will 
among men, and to exercise an unlimited amount of moral 
and civilizing influence, but there are not two Christian 
nations on earth that will trust each other, even in times of 
peace, without a standing army. Fifteen hundred millions 
of dollars are expended annually to sustain a peace army in 
Europe. Is not Christianity civilizing, especially when 
backed by powder and ball } Is it not peaceful when upheld 
by bristling bayonets 1 

William Howitt of England, himself a Christian, in his 
work entitled " Colonization and Christianity," writing of 
Europe, makes a strong statement : 

" The barbarities and desperate outrages of the so-called 
Christian race, throughout every region of the world, and 



298 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

upon every people that they have been able to subdue, are 
not to be paralleled by those of any other race, however 
fierce, however untaught, and however reckless of mercy and 
of shame, in any age of the earth." 

Hon. James M. Peebles, a gentleman of extensive research, 
and a distinguished traveler, bears similar testimony : 

" Are professing Christians in this century really any better 
— any more charitable and Christ-like than those denominat- 
ed infidels and ' ultra-rationalists ' ? Nearly two thousand 
years of trial and demonstration have justly written down 
Christianity a most stupendous failure ! The fruits, the 
influences, justify such judgment. Its highways ablaze with 
war banners, are paved with human skulls ; and its history, 
shocking to refined natures, can only be written in tears and 
blood. The candid in every walk of life must admit that, 
since the famous Constantinian Council, its undertones have 
been the groans and pleading cries of the persecuted and the 
imprisoned, the beheaded and the burned at martyrs' 
stakes!" — Jesus: Myth, Man^ 07" God. 

On page 85 of this startling book, he says : 

" Carefully tracing the career of the Christian Church 
under the patronage of Christian sovereigns, one is com- 
pelled to consider Christianity synonymous almost with 
persecution and fiendishness ! Does an apologist say this 
was not Christianity } The groundless assertion is denied. 
It was — it is Christianity. And what is more, it is in perfect 
keeping with the genius of the system as interpreted by 
councils, synods, and the masses of its devotees. If the 
fruits are disliked, disown — deny the tree — the name^ even, 
of the tree that bore and bears them. This theological 
superstructure — Judaized Christianity — with its total de- 
pravity and vicarious atonement — with its angry God and 
threatened retaliatory damnation of numberless millions — 
naturally and legitimately promotes just such individual and 
natural wickedness as we have been contemplating." 

.. Need we be astonished at anything the Clergy may do.? 
Their religion licenses them to commit all sorts of crimes. 
If some of them are good citizens it is because they are less 
influenced by their religion than their human nature. 



XV. 

IS THIS A FALSE ALARM ? 

Nine years have rolled round since this modern Movement 
for recognizing God in our Constitution began. Now and 
then in the discharge of my duties as a public lecturer, I 
notified the people that there was a plot by the Clergy against 
our Nation. This was as early as 1864. The people gener- 
ally received such affirmations as the result of what many 
would, good-humoredly, term my natural antipathy to the 
clergy. 

In 1868 I heard a Methodist minister, Rev. Mr. Stoughton, 
Belvidcre, 111., declare that the Christians of the country 
ought to unite and form a Christian party. I then sounded 
the voice of warning more frequently. In October, 1869, I 
delivered a lecture in the capital of Iowa upon the subject. 
In November there was a State Convention of ministers at 
Oskaloosa. They met to discuss the subject of recognizing 
God in the Constitution, and to form a State Association. 
The evening before the Convention I addressed a large and 
intelligent audience in Oskaloosa, and received a courteous 
invitation through the press to attend the Convention and 
participate in the discussions. I spoke to them freely and 
frankly. I told them that their " Reform "(.?) meant Spiritual 
despotism, the most cruel, merciless species of despotism. 
I cannot help feeling earnestly in this matter. Do not see 
how any American citizen can feel otherwise. One of the 
leaders in your Movement goes so far as to declare, " We 
will defend this right to recognize God in the Constitution 



300 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

\vith our property, our lives and our sacred honor. Necessity 
is laid upon us to do it." 

Mr. President, this means war, if it means anything. If 
war must come, then let it come ; if we must appeal to the 
sword, then let the sword come, and the dagger ! For one I 
am willing to light for this government of Jefferson, " this 
heathenish and Infidel government," as it is sneeringly called 
by a body of religious fanatics. Though a peace man I am 
willing to fight against religious oppression, and in favor of 
liberty. Oh, this idea of God's ruling the nation in person 
is fraught with evil. Before the Infidels got the reins of 
government in their own hands, and so " stole a march " upon 
the Christian world, you had a fair specimen of Christian 
rule. Its history is written in characters of blood. There 
were holy crusades against human life ; bitter persecutions in 
the name of religion. There were pious puritans who fled 
from religious oppression ; but retained a large measure of 
intolerance. Their vile superstition, called religion, prompted 
them to banish Roger Williams who was a friend to religious 
liberty ; incited them to flog Quakers in the name of God, 
and to bore their tongues with red-hot irons, thinking they 
did God service ! I cannot trust you as Christians, but I can 
trust you as ;;/<?;z. We want no God recognized in our Con- 
stitution. We rejoice in an Infidel government — the best, 
the freest the sun ever shone upon. 

I repeat, if you intend to force your opinions you shall 
have war. 

The short speech, of which the foregoing is a synopsis, 
produced a wild scene of confusion. The Oskaloosa Herald 
took a more cheerful view of those scenes than did the clergy 
at the time. It said : 

"The Co7ivention opened wide the door of free discussion. 
Right bravely was it done and there resulted, as compensa- 
tion, the liveliest interest in the proceedings. How could it 
be otherwise in a body where orthodox, liberalist, Jew, atheist, 
laym.en, lawyers — those for and those against — occupied the 
floor .-^ // was a rare sight to see an atheist pouring out the 



IS THIS A FALSE ALARM ? 30I 

fierce vials of his pent-up denunciations on the heads of the 
clerg)\ and a Jew 7'eading with a broken acceiit but earnest 
tone, his labored apology. And no one can regret the freedom 
allowed in the outcome. If to gain the public attention be 
any part of the object of such conventions, then was this one 
a wonderful success." 

The Oskaloosa Conservator opposed the clergy. 

I treated all the gentlemen personally with the utmost 
courtesy, as was acknowledged on the floor of the Convei:^- 
tion, and jokingly remarked to several of the Reverend 
gentlemen that I thought they ought to return me a vote of 
thanks for filling their church with people anxious to witness 
the intellectual conflict. 

It was not my privilege to be present at the National Chris- 
tian Convention in Philadelphia, in January, 1871. But I 
sent a note of warning which was read, and denominated a 
letter from a "Chicago Infidel." 

I addressed the following letter to the Christian Statesman : 

Chicago, April 12, 1872. 
Proprietors " Christian Statesman : " 

Gentlemen : 1 am fully aware of the magnitude of the 
movement in which you exhibit so much energy. I concede 
the ability of the leading men engaged in the attempt to 
secure a recognition (in the magna charta of our country) of 
God, Jesus Christ, the Bible and the Christian religion. As 
I said in my letter to your Philadelphia Convention, " Were 
I a Christian and felt as I think a Christian must feel, I do 
not see how I could oppose your movement. But as I am 
anti-Christian I oppose it, and believe I am serving my 
country by so doing." 

A year later and Mr. Abbot, of the Index, expressed a 
similar sentiment in your Cincinnati Convention. 

You ask for nothing but what the logic of Christianity 
gives you. The contest, therefore, is really between Chris- 
tians and anti-Christians — Christianity and Infidelity. 

Should you make the rapid progress for the next decade 
which has been attained within the past year, I believe your 



302 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

movement will be a success. The belittling of your cause 
by the Liberalists of the country, and their consequent 
apathy, are favorable to your efforts to Christianize the gov- 
ernment. To prevent, if possible, this calamity, I have 
written a work. The people need to be re-impressed with 
the principles of secularism which gave birth to our nation. 
" Common sense " laid the foundations of our human gov- 
ernment in 1776. Common sense in 1876 will be as neces- 
sary to save it from Christianity. 

Undoubtedly you have faith in your principles. You 
court discussion, which always shows confidence to main- 
tain principles. Hence, I will have no objection to publish 
one page of the prospectus of your Christian Statesman in 
my catalogue of books and papers to be bound in the vol- 
ume. I will allow it to run through all the editions of my 
book, so that the readers of The Clergy a Source of 
Danger to the American Republic can procure your 
paper if they choose, and thus become acquainted with its 
objects and arguments. This I offer provided you will be 
equally liberal in allowing me an equal space for a regular 
standing advertisement of my book, thus enabling your 
readers to post themselves on the other side of the question. 

Hoping to receive a favorable reply, 

I am yours, respectfully, 

W, F. Jamieson. 

In calling the attention of my fellow-citizens to the danger 
which threatens us I have been met, in almost every locality, 
with the assurance that it would "not amount to anything;" 
"will soon blow over;" "Orthodoxy is nearly dead;" "a 
wild, impracticable, impossible scheme;" "there is no ground 
for fear," etc., etc. I almost feared the pecuniary risk of 
launching a book upon an indifferent public. But the Liberal 
press began to call attention to the growing evil of Church 
and State union, public attention is everywhere becoming 
enlisted on one side or the other. 

In May, 1870, Francis Ellingwood Abbot, in an address 
before the Free Religious Association, held in Boston, after 



IS THIS A FALSE ALARM ? 



303 



having declared that the Church is " seeking to ally itself 
with the State" proceeded to specify: 

" I refer to the attempts, laughed at thus far by the country, 
to get the Church established by law, through a theological 
amendment to the Constitution. The project seems ridicu- 
lous enough, yet it is the drowning man's clutch at a straw. 
When such men as Dr. Cheever and Professor Taylor Lewis 
virtually advocate the absurd scheme in the New York Inde- 
pendent^ the significance of the movement becomes more than 
trivial ; and the late Pittsburg Convention, though empty as a 
bubble, is a bubble that shows the drift of the current. What 
but conscious weakness and alarm could prompt such a 
violation of Puritan principles ? Is it not plainly a retro- 
gression to Catholic ground } And what could cause this 
retreat to the Church-and-State theory of Rome, except the 
fear produced by the formidable spread of free thought? 
Nothing short of deadly peril to the Church would ever 
reconcile American Christians to it. Yet we shall hear more^ 
and not less, of this wild, despotic project. The instinct of 
self-preservation is strong in all organized bodies ; and, reason 
being on the side of free thought, Christianity must rely on 
law. Even the Unitarians, professedly the friends of free- 
dom, know well how to make the law eke out the deficiency 
of their arguments. 

" I am no alarmist. I hate all wars, even in self-defence. 



But I see an irrepressible conflict between the Christian 
Church and the modern world which has got to be fought out 
here in America. The question of the life or death of the 
Christian Church will yet shake this continent to its founda- 
tions. It will get into politics, — nay, is already getting into 
politics. The Bible-in-schools controversy and the agitation 
of the theological amendment to the Constitution are but a 
hint of what is yet to come. I wish I could feel sure that 
this great conflict would be settled peacefully at the polls ; 
but I do not feel sure of it. The moneyed institutions of 
the Christian Church are vast, its social influence is enor- 
mous, its slumbering power for evil is beyond all estimate. 
Representing nobody in this Association but myself, — nay, 
uttering what I know seems to most of them and to you to 
be the wild extravagance of theories pushed to absurd 
extremes, — I do nevertheless avow my own conviction that 
American civilization and the American government have a 



304 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

dome3tic enemy in the Christian Church to be compared only 
to the great slave-power of the South. What the Anti-Slavery 
Society did to the South, this Association is doing to the 
Church, — awakening and exasperating an enemy whose hand 
may yet be rai.-^ed against the nation's life. Those who are 
disposed to slight the warning will do well to remember the 
incredulity of the North down to the very outbreak of the 
war. The great question of political slavery has been glo- 
riously settled : the still greater question of spiritual slavery 
is looming up before us. What may lie between the present 
hour and the hour of final settlement, I can but dimly discern 
by the light of ideas ; but sure I am, that freedom shall yet 
win her crowning triumph over the Christian Church, to be 
remembered with the same profound thankfulness with which 
we now remember the fall of the slave Confederacy." 

And still the masses say there is no danger ! 
In an essay read at the Detroit Convention of the Free 
Religious Association, Dec. 8, 187 1, Mr. Abbot said: 

"But this state of things cannot last forever. The incon- 
gruity of American government and American religion is 
forcing itself on millions of minds. Freedom in «V//^r means 
freedom in both. The Sunday question, the Bible-in-schools 
question, the Christian Amendment question are but out- 
croppings of this interior contradiction in American life. 
The nation is coming to be uneasily aware that it has got to 
adjust its government and its religion anew. The conscious- 
ness of this necessity will increase. There is a great practical 
absurdity to be got rid of — the absurdity of maintaining a 
despotic religion in a free country. The people are slowly 
awaking to the fact that a free State must have a free religion 
— that one as well as the other must rest on the great law of 
natural reason — that it is impossible to settle some very 
important practical questions, so long as the popular gov- 
ernment and the popular religion are at sword's points on 
questions of fundamental principles. The Bible must either 
stay in or stay out of the schools ; the Sunday must either be 
secularized or made a sacred day; the Constitution must 
either be kept secular or made Christian. Nor can questions 
like these be settled without coming to a distinct understand- 
ing whether the natural law of reason, or the arbitrary law of 
Christianity, shall govern men in casting their votes. The 
Christian religion points to one solution of these questions ; 



IS THIS A FALSE ALARM ? 305 

reason points to another. And men soon learn to perceive, 
when called to act, that they cannot walk simultaneously in 
opposite directions. Contradictions in mere opinion are very 
apt to lie undetected in ordinary minds. But contradictions 
in action are soon perceived. From these facts it is clear 
that a conflict of ideas is imminent in this country, if not 
already here. Our strictly secular form of government, recog- 
nizing no law but that of reason, is now beginning to work 
as never before in modifying men's thoughts about religion. 
They are rapidly coming to the conclusion that it is necessary 
to liave a Free Religion in a Free State. 

" There is a profound need at this time of a New Abolition- 
ism. The slavery of despotic will still continues over human 
souls, though the chains have fallen in fragments from their 
limbs. The Anti-Slavery Society has nobly accomplished its 
work, and gone into the past crowned with the benedictions 
of the age. This Association is neither more nor less than a 
new Anti-Slavery Society — an organized protest against the 
soul-bondage that still survives to darken the pathway of 
mankind. If it comprehends its own historic mission, its 
trumpet will give no uncertain sound. It will blow a blast, 
not noisy or obstreperous, but yet so clear and piercing that 
it shall penetrate to the farthest confines of the land, and (a 
more illustrious exploit) into the deaf ears of popular indif- 
ference and ecclesiastical stupidity. Natural reason instead 
of arbitrary will, whether in the administration of States or 
the conduct of private lives — in a word. Free Religion in a 
Free State — that is our battle-cry ; and all but the dead will 
leap up at the sound of it, electrified with a new purpose and 
a new insight into the grandeur of America's destiny." 

The key-note of this polished scholar's and true reformer's 
address was struck by himself at Boston when he said, "Sure 
I am, that freedom shall yet win her crowning triumph over 
the Christian Church." Yes, I think so, too, but centuries 
will have come and gone first. When Mr. Abbot saw the 
danger, which I have written this book to prove exists, he 
evidently felt that something should be done at once to stem 
the tide which was setting in favor of the Christian scheme. 
He urged the people to act promptly, and wrote and circulat- 
ed the following : 
20 



306 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 



" To the Honorable the Senate and House of Representatives in 
Congress Assembled : 

"We, the undersigned, citizens of the United States, 
respectfully and earnestly ask your honorable bodies to pre- 
serve inviolate the great guarantees of religious liberty, now 
contained in the Constitution of the United States, and tO' 
dismiss all petitions asking you to adopt measures for amend- 
ing said Constitution by incorporating in it a recognition of 
' God as the source of all authority and power in civil govern- 
ment,' and of 'the Lord Jesus Christ as the Ruler among the 
Nations, and his revealed will as of supreme authority.' We 
protest against such proposed amendments as an attempt to 
revolutionize the government of the United States, and to 
overthrow the great principles of complete religious liberty 
and the complete separation of Church and State on which, 
it was established by its original founders." 

In his address to the public he said : 

" Send your own name, and as many other names as possi- 
ble, authorizing me to append them to the above counter- 
petition. Roll up the list to thousands and tens of thousands 
of names. Let such a protest be heard as shall put a speedy 
end to this fanatical attempt to subvert the fundamental prin- 
ciples of this free republic. 

"Address Francis E. Abbot, 

^'' Editor of The Index ^ 

"Toledo, O." 

Feeling that Mr. Abbot's hopeful view of a short, sharp 
and decisive conflict would lead many to believe the Chris- 
tian plot could be crushed by a little brief concert of action, 
I penned an article for the Prese7it Jge, of Chicago, Feb. lo, 
which contained these extracts : 

" Francis E. Abbot, editor of the Index, delivered a dis- 
course, and published it in his paper, on the God question. 
I rejoice to see this awakening to a sense of the dangers 
which threaten our nation." 

" Mr. Abbot, I perceive, has not taken the dimensions of 
this danger. He is alarmed, it is true, at the audacity and 
priestly wiles of the Protestants ; but when he imagines that 



IS THIS A FALSE ALARM? 307 

a 'counter-petition ' shall, as he says, 'put a speedy end to 
this fanatical attempt to subject the fundamental principles 
of this free republic,' he shows that he is not fully aware of 
the magnitude of the attempt. It is never wise to underrate 
the strength of an adversary. A ' counter-petition ' of a 
million names might be enrolled in ten days, and it would not 
have the extinguishing effect upon these fanatical Christians 
that friend Abbot supposes it would. He thinks such a list 
of names might pour in as would make the Christian Con- 
vention, which will assemble in Cincinnati the latter part of 
this month, the last of the kind. Vain hope ! I know the 
men who are engaged in the nefarious plot to overthrow 
religious and political freedom. They are in deadly earnest, 
and believe in pushing their claims for the glory of God. 
Every day they gain strength. This is evident from the notice 
that liberal societies are forced to take of their Constitutional- 
God movement." 

In the same article I said, 

" The Christians will, as a body, ' sustain the movement. 
Many of them have already arrived to the conclusion that if, 
as they believe, a church government is superior to a secular 
one, the latter may be dispensed with altogether. 

" Many Liberalists stultify themselves by falling in with the 
universally prevalent notion that without churches the people 
would become barbarians, and so they contribute money to 
build and, afterwards, to support them. This is a grievous 
error. Church property is no help to any town. 

"What a shame it is, too, that Spiritualists, Infidels and 
other Liberalists, will quietly submit to the Christian impo- 
sition of being taxed to support orthodox churches free from 
taxation. Every dollar of church property ought to be taxed. 
A poor widow must pay the last cent levied against her cot- 
tage, while the imposing church edifice next door is untaxed ! 
If God owns any of these buildings let him be assessed ! If 
man owns them let him pay the bill. Religionists are 
perfectly free to worship their idols, but they have no right 
to tax anti-Christians to support those idols." 

In the Index^ January 20th, the concluding words of a 
paragraph entitled " Sign the Petition ! " has the thrill of 
energy in them : " Make it a point of honor to have your 
name on this first petition against the audacious attempt to 



3o8 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

crush out religious liberty in America. Let treason to hu- 
manity fall dead at its birth^ riddled through and through 
with the ballots of indignant freemen ! " 

In the Index of February 3, Mr. Abbot says : 

*' The success of this 7novement would be the concentration 
of all political power in the hands of an intolerant church 
party. Such success is an impossibility. But the impossi- 
bility lies in the certainty that the freemen of America would 
rise in arms as one man, before they would suffer ecclesiasti- 
cal ambition to plant its foot upon their necks. We deprecate 
strife, but we believe in self-defence; and we have no self 
more dear to defend than the liberty of Man." 

It is this sense of security that has been our chief danger. 
Mark the language of Mr. Abbot as contained in the forego- 
ing paragraph. " Such success is an impossibility." In the 
very next week's issue he expresses an entirely different view. 
He said, ''^Religious liberty in A77ierica must do battle for its 
very existence hereafter."" What wrought so great a change 
in one week .? This : A National Christian Convention was 
held at Cincinnati, which Mr. Abbot attended. Here is his 
leading editorial of Feb. 10 : 

"the CINCINNATI CONVENTION. 

"The 'National Convention to Secure the Religious 
Amendment of the United States Constitution' was held in 
Thoms' Hall, Cincinnati, on Wednesday, January 31, and 
Thursday, February i. The hall accommodates about seven 
or eight hundred, and was well filled at every session of the 
convention. About two hundred and fifty delegates, from 
ten different States, reported themselves. The audiences 
were in full sympathy with the object of the convention, if 
frequent and loud applause is a trustworthy sign of sympathy; 
although it was evident that a minority of those present were 
attracted only by curiosity. The spirit of the convention 
ivas that of deep earnestness, and impressed the attentive 
observer as indicative of strong convictions very sincerely 
held. It was a note-worthy circumstance that, comparatively 
speaking, very few women were present. 

'' From the introductory speech and Report of the General 
Secretary, it appeared that the National Association (by 



IS THIS A FALSE ALARM? 3O9 

which the convention was called) has at least thirty auxiliary- 
associations, each with a membership ranging from twenty 
to three hundred. Within the past year nearly two hundred 
public meetings have been held, attended mostly by ' large 
and enthusiastic audiences.' It was proposed to push the 
work of the Association with redoubled energy by distribu- 
ting tracts, sending out lecturers, holding meetings for public 
discussion, multiplying subordinate associations, and circula- 
ting petitions to Congress. The great aim of the Association 
is to prevent the abrogation of Sunday laws, the expulsion of 
the Bible from the schools, and so forth, by so amending the 
United States Constitution as 'to place all Christian laws, 
institutions, and usages in our government on an undeniable 
legal basis in the fundamental law of the nation.' 

" From the Report of the Executive Committee it appeared 
that ten thousand copies of the proceedings of the Philadel- 
phia convention have been gratuitously distributed ; that a 
General Secretary (Rev. D. McAllister) has been appointed, 
with a salary of ^2,500 ; that a long and elaborate paper by 
Prof. Tayler Lewis, of Union College, in advocacy of the 
ideas and objects of the Association, will soon be published', 
that the number of the Executive Committee is recommended 
to be increased to twenty-five, besides including all presi- 
dents of auxiliary associations ; that $2,177 have been raised 
the past year by the Association, and that a balance of over 
$90 remains in the treasury. Nearly Ji,8oo were raised at 
this Convention. 

" The Business Committee recommended that the delegates 
to this convention hold meetings in their respective localities 
to ratify the resolutions adopted at Cincinnati ; that twenty 
thousand copies of the proceedings of this convention be 
published in tract form ; and that the friends of the Associa- 
tion be urged to form auxiliary associations. All these 
recommendations were adopted. 

"We saw no indication of the artful management which 
characterizes most conventions. The leading men, — Rev. 
D. McAllister, Rev. A. M. Milligan, Prof. Sloane, Prof. Stod- 
dard, Prof. Wright, Rev. T. P. Stevenson, — impressed us as 
able, clear-headed, and thoroughly honest men ; and we 
could not but conceive a great respect for their motives and 
their intentions. It is such qualities as these in the leaders 
of the movement that give it its most formidable character. 
They have definite and consistent ideas ; they perceive the 
logical connection of these ideas, and advocate them in a 
very cogent and powerful manner ; and they propose to push 



3IO THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

them with determination and zeal. Concede their premises, 
and it is impossible to deny their conclusions; and since 
these premises are axiomatic truths with the great majority 
of Protestant Christians, the effect of the vigorous campaign 
on which they are entering cannot be small or despicable. 
The very respect with which we were compelled to regard 
them only increases our sense of the evils which lie germin- 
ant in their doctrines ; and we came home 7vith the conviction 
that religious liberty in A^n erica must do battle for its very 
existence hereafter. The movement in which these men are 
engaged has too many elements of strength to be contemned 
by any far-seeing liberal. Blindness or ■ sluggishness to-day 
means slavery to-morrow. Radicalism must pass now from 
thought to action, or it will deserve the oppression that lies 
in wait to overwhelm it." 

Mr. Abbot was permitted to make the following remon- 
strance before the Convention : 

"Without casting any reflections upon the motives which 
have led to this attempt to Christianize the United States 
Constitution, I wish to enter a most earnest protest against 
the attempt itself. I will not inflict a long document on your 
attention, but confine myself to a single point of vast practi- 
cal importance. 

"If the proposed changes are ever made in the Constitu- 
tion, their necessary result will be to prevent all persons 
except Christiari believers from holding any ofhce, civil or 
military, under the American government. No honest dis- 
believer in the newly incorporated doctrines will be able to 
take the oath of allegiance required from all United States 
officials and soldiers. Only Christian believers and dishonest 
disbelievers will be able to take it ; consequently the entire 
power of the government, both political and military, will be 
constitutionally concentrated in the hands of those who 
believe, or profess to believe, the doctrines thus incorporated. 

" The very large portion of the American people who do 
not believe in these doctrines will thus be rendered incapable 
of holding office^ deprived of all representation in Congress 
and the other branches of the national government, and 
robbed of rights which have been hitherto recognized ^s 
theirs from the very adoption of the Constitution. They 
will be degraded to a subject class, ruled by an aristocracy of 
Christian believers. ' 

.."This state of things once established, the 'appropriate 



IS THIS A FALSE ALARM? 3II 

legislation ' by which the new policy must be sustained will 
necessarily involve the proscription and suppression of free 
thought, free speech, and a free press. Whether intended 
now or not, oppressive persecution must be the consequence 
of the adoption of the proposed amendment. All your dis- 
claimers of the intent or wish to persecute are utterly idle. 
The matter will not be in your hands. Persecution will 
grow like a cancer in the body politic just so soon as the 
coveted inequality of religious rights once poisons its blood. 

" Now I urge you to consider well the temerity of your 
proposed usurpation of political power. I warn you against 
the peril of instigating the Christian part of our population 
to attempt this usurpation. I caution you against the folly 
of supposing that the majority of the people will finally con- 
sent to this subversion of their common liberties. I beg you 
to count the cost of this agitation before you carry it further. 
It is a wild and insane delusion to expect that the great body 
of freedom-lovers will ever submit voluntarily, or can be made 
to submit by force, to any such outrageous oppression, 
whether in the name of God or man. I make no threat 
whatever, but I state a truth fixed as the hills when I say that, 
before you can carry this measure and trample on the free- 
dom of the people, you will have to wade through seas of 
l)lood. Every man who favors it votes to precipitate the 
most frightful war of modern times ; and it is simply prepos- 
terous for any of your number to speak of the liberals as 
* threatening war.' Vou threaten war when you avow a 
purpose to destroy the equality of religious rights now 
guaranteed by the Constitution to all American citizens. 
On the assailant in this struggle be all the responsibility of 
its results ! 

"In the name of freedom, and humanity, and peace, I 
appeal to you to recognize the real tendencies of your en- 
terprise, and to abandon it as not only hopeless, but also 
most dangerous to the tranquillity of the land. If you are 
//^^z/^/^//^^j/j' favoring a scheme whose success would be the 
establishment of a Christian oligarchy on the ruins of this 
free republic, you will turn away from it with horror when 
reflection has shown you its sure issue. But if you deliber- 
<ately aim to compass this usurpation of power and this 
disfranchisement of all but Christian believers, notwithstand- 
ing the inevitable calamities involved, you will, if as honest 
and earnest as I believe you to be, point out to the people 
the abyss that yawns before their feet. Of this be sure — 
there are millions of men in America who will never submit 



312 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

to be ruled by an oligarchy, whether Christian or anti-Chris- 
tian. If I wished to destroy Christianity in this country by 
unscrupulous means, I should encourage your attempt in 
every way ; for the reaction you will create will open the 
eyes of millions to the fact that Christianity and freedom are 
incompatible. But because you are not only Christians, but 
also fellow-citizens, fellow-men, and brothers, I appeal to 
you most earnestly to be content with the equal, 

RIGHTS YOU NOW ENJOY BEFORE THE LAW, without Seeking 

to destroy the rights of those who are not Christians in 
belief. I appeal to you to make no further efforts to fan into 
a flame the dangerous fires of religious bigotry ; for the 
conflagration, once kindled, you will be powerless to control. 
Rise above the temptation to seek the triumph of your creed 
by political strife, and trust your cause, as I trust mine, to 
the power of truth over the human soul." 

Said Professor Sloane at the Convention: 

" I believe we have held no Convention on this subject 
without hearing the roaring of some wild beast, threatening 
blood. * * '^' We follow peace; but those who make 
these threats may as well know that they cannot intimidate 
or drive us from our firm purpose. If they attempt to carry 
them into execution, they will be met by a resolution as 
determined as their own, and by a heroism that no system of 
unbelief ever inspired." 

Said Rev. T. P. Stevenson, one of the editors of the 

Christian Statesman : 

" Since this nation believes in Jehovah as the God of 
nations, have we not a sacred and indefeasible right, as a 
nation, to worship our God ? * * * This right we will 
maintain, with our lives, if necessary, as the highest of all 
rights ; a right which no individual, and no minority of indi- 
viduals, can limit or abridge." 

Said Rev. H. H. George, one of the most active men of 
the movement and the Secretary of the Convention : 

"What we want is to make our Constitution conform to 
the religious spirit of the nation. If there is to be a fight; 
let it come. Christian men will never relinquish their belief 
without a terrible struggle." 



IS THIS A FALSE ALARM .'' 3X3 

That is the history of the Oskaloosa Convention repeating 
itself. Yet there are thousands of Liberalists who disregard, 
or do not perceive these signs of the gathering storm of a 
Religious War ! I am almost compelled to say that it is 
inevitable. 

The Index of February 17, had the following editorial : 

" WANTED A MILLION NAMES. 

" Not long ago we wrote to Mr. Sumner, inquiring if he 
would present the Counter-Petition in Congress when the 
time for its presentation should arrive. To this inquiry we 
have received the following cordial reply : 

"Senate Chamber, Feb. i, 1872. 
" Dear Sir : — I shall present the petition you mention, 
with pleasure and sympathy. 

Faithfully yours, Charles Sumner." 

"Nothing less could be expected of the Senator whose 
career has been one long, resplendent, and heroic service of 
human freedom. Let us see to it, friends, that the petition 
to be thus illustriously presented shall be worthy of the cause 
and of the man. 

"Do not rest till the roll of names shall count up its 
hundreds of thousands, — nay, if need be, its millions. Do 
not grudge a little labor now, when it may avert evils which 
the wildest imagination cannot paint in colors too deep or 
dark. If any think us extravagant in our estimate of the 
dangers of this Christian Amendment agitation, — if they 
regard the movement as too fanatical or absurd ever to 
become influential enough to create a strong public opinion 
in its favor, — let them remember how idle at the time seemed 
the predictions of those who years ago warned the nation 
against the young lion of Secession. It was only a cub, a 
kitten, a figure of speech. But it drank one day the blood 
of our best and dearest. The day is approaching when no 
man will confess that he ever laughed at this nascent monster 
of Bigotry. 

"We are perfectly willing to be thought to-day over- 
excited or ' scared by a bug-bear.' What seems an inflamed 
imagination is the coolest-headed calculation of cause and 
effect ; and we appeal from the present to the future for our 
justification. It is of no consequence what the blind say of 



314 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

the seeing. We care less than nothing what scepticism or 
cynicism or ridicule may say of our warnings against this 
movement, provided friends^ you willtaJze up thisworkof getii7ig 
signatures to the Counter-Petition. That is the first thing to 
be done. The task is but just commenced. Make a clean 
sweep of your own town. Get every name in it that you 
can. Leave no one, man or woman, unasked. Do not stop 
till the work has been done so thoroughly that nothing 
remains for gleaners. Let the hoarse murmurs of the great 
protest go up like the sound of many waters, drowning the 
serpent's hiss with the grand affirmation of Eternal Lib- 
erty FOR THE Western World." 

Within four months there were thirty thousand namss sent 
to Mr. Abbot for enrollment on the protest submitted to the 
people for signature. But the Legal-God-Christians feel 
strong enough to laugh in derision at such efforts. The 
Philadelphia Christian Statesman of April i, says : 

" The editor of TJie Index seems not to be aware that in 
the years 1868-9 petitions were poured upon Congress from- 
all parts of the country, in behalf of the proposed amend- 
ment. When we deem it wise to enroll our forces in a 
petition, we shall be happy to compare forces with the 
opposition." 

Says the Index : 

" We are sorry to see a disposition on the part of some to 
consider the remonstrance as unnecessary. If the revolu- 
tionists succeed in enlisting on their side the Young Men's 
Christian Associations and other ecclesiastical organizations 
(and they are trying to do this), they can easily obtain names 
on their petitions by the hundred thousand. The dictate of 
simple commxon sense is to forestall them, and thus bring to 
bear against them the power of a great public opinion already 
publicly expressed. Many Orthodox persons will sign the 
remonstrance to-day. Wait long enough, and they will be 
dragooned into support of the measure in contemplation. 
We unhesitatingly stake our reputation for insight into the 
tendencies of the times on the prediction that within a very 
few years this Christian Amendment movement will be the 
great absorbing question of American politics. It is fatuity 
to despise the gathering cloud because it is to-day ' no bigger 



IS THIS A FALSE ALARM? 515, 

than a man's hand.' Years ago, even before we had ever 
heard of this ' National Reform Association,' we held the 
same opinion concerning the general movement it represents. 
Slavery once abolished, this is the next great issue in the 
order of development. Do not, friends, fall into the same 
mistake as in 1861, and be caught unprepared when the time 
for action comes." 

It will be a long and bitter contest — bitter on the Christian 
side. 

On the 7th of February I penned the following which was, 
published in the Free Religious journal : 

"political christians. 

" Editor Index : — 

" ' The Clergy a Source of Danger to the Aine7Hcan Re- 
public. ' 

" Such is the line upon which for five years I have been 
conducting the campaign against the clerical interference with 
our ' Infidel ' government. Mr. Abbot, I trust that no 
Liberalist will underrate the strength of the enemies of free 
government. I have many reasons for the opinion that the 
ministers believe they are doing God service in Christian- 
izing our government. I know the men engaged in it. They 
are in earnest. They feel their cause is as holy as Garrison 
believed ' Abolitionism ' to be, and are confident that God, 
and victory are with them. They have been laboring in this 
cause — they and their ancestors — ever since 1787. At that 
time they deplored the ' wretched infidelity then abroad upon 
the air of the world,' which gave us a 'godless constitution,' 
a ' heathenish thing.' They explain that Satan at that time 
was unusually active and * stole a march upon the Christian 
world ! ' The ' Covenanters ' were never reconciled to the 
Constitution which insulted God by omitting his name. In 
1863 the modern form of the movement began. It is gain- 
ing strength. Our. chief danger is to believe it is a harmless 
movement, or, if dangerous, that it can easily be extinguished. 
We need to beware of indulging an undue sense of security. 
I am glad you have espoused the cause of Liberty against 
clerical rule. 

" This effort to Christianize our institutions will endanger, 
far more than African bondage did, the perpetuity of the 
Republic. We are upon the eve of a great religious war 
that will not be entirely a wordy one." 



^l6 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

Even some who have been very active in securing signa- 
tures to Mr. Abbot's Counter-Petition have not reahzed the 
magnitude of the movement they were opposing. One 
gentleman in closing a note to the Index said, " Had I time, 
and if the dog was not already dead^ I would be disposed 
to rout him from every school house in the State." The 
editor, in a note, said : 

" Let local meetings be held everywhere, for the purpose 
of discussing this subject in all its bearings. But do not 
hold them as if 'the dog ' were ' dead.' That is a terrible 
mistake. 

"The interest of the christian church demands 
that the proposed amendment should be carried. it 
is the only measure that can preserve to Orthodoxy its per- 
manent dominion over society. These men see this fact as 
clearly as we do. Do not flatter yourself that they will cease 
their agitation. Meet them on their own ground. Out- 
AGITATE THEM ! Carry these questions right before the 
people, and make every man decide which petition he will 
sign, theirs for tyranny or ours for freedom ! " 

Charles Voysey, of England, writes to Mr. Abbot : 

" Imagine, then, what an army of dragon's teeth would be 
sown by incorporating these terms into the Constitution! 
Rival sects would then never be without a bone of fierce 
contention, and all the time of your legislators would be 
occupied in keeping the ' Christians ' from flying at each 
others' throats. 

" For my part, I have long since forsaken the name of 
' Christian ' as in any sense expressing my views, or as in any 
way a term of honor. It has either no fixed meaning, or it 
is a term of reproach as expressing mingled superstition and 
uncharitableness. I would ten times rather be called a Jew, 
as Jesus was, for I am quite as little of a Christian in my 
beliefs as he. 

"Will America condescend to take up and put on our 
cast-off clothes .? We, in England, are much nearer to the 
repudiation of the Christian name than fanatics dream. 

" We are on the eve of either disestablishing the Church 
- — of separating Church and State — or else of disestablishing 
the dogmas so as to leave all opinions alike unimposed and 
unprotected. Will America, of all countries in the world, 



IS THIS A FALSE ALARM? 317 

make a retrograde step, and try again what the old country- 
has tried for centuries and found to be ahnost an unmitigat- 
ed curse ? I cannot believe this. Such a step would be 
ominous of your coming downfall." 

The people of European countries are watching this 
scheme of the clergy with the deepest interest. Let Liberty 
be overthrown in America and where would it dare to raise 
its head ? 

Those secular papers opposed to the movement, yet treat- 
ing it as scarcely worth notice, are recreant to their post of 
honor as guardians of liberty. The Cincinnati Gazette^ of 
February lo, expressed the opinion that nine-tenths of the 
professor's of religion in the United States are either posi- 
tively or negatively opposed to it, and that not one in ten 
thousand would vote for the proposed amendment, if sub- 
mitted. All such statements are well calculated to put 
Liberalists to sleep, and to encourage Christians to invoke 
the aid of all opposed to infidelity. 

Rev. H. H. George, Secretary of the Cincinnati Conven- 
tion, published a letter in the Gazette^ which shows clearly 
that more than nine-tenths of the professors of religion would 
be in favor of God in the Constitution ; and I believe that a 
majority of world's people would favor it when tested as 
Christians intend to put it : Christianity versus Infidelity. 

Said Rev. Mr. George in reply to the Gazette : 

" I shall simply narrate my experience. I have been over 
a large part of Ohio, parts of Pennsylvania, Indiana, and 
elsewhere, where meetings have been held to discuss this 
subject. Those meetings would have at different times six 
and seven hundred people, and sometimes as high as a 
thousand. And after the subject was presented, ninety-nine 
hundreths of the audience would say amen to it. And able, 
honest, earnest men, would often exclaim in astonishment — 
' Why, can any Christian man oppose the nation acknowledge 
ing God and Christ and the Bible 1 ' 

" My candid opinion is, and I have had the best opportu- 
nity to know, were this matter laid fairly before the Christian 
people of this country, at least the four-fifths of them would 
unhesitatingly pronounce in its favor." 



3l8 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

I have traveled over large portions of Illinois, Minnesota, 
Michigan, and held meetings in Wisconsin, Indiana, lowaj 
Kentucky and Ohio, and my experience proves that Mr. 
George is right, and the Rip Van Winkle Liberalists who 
dream there is no cause for alarm, are wrong. Well does Mr. 
Abbot say : 

" It is easy to laugh at these Orthodox revolutionists, as 
the Southern fire-eaters were universally laughed at in the 
North before the war. But the great mass of pre-occupied, 
indifferent outsiders as little understand the ideas and spirit 
of the Christian Church as the Northern people understood 
those of the South. What ignorance is capable of doing 
when officered by fanaticism or ambition the rebellion showed, 
and the liberals would be vastly wiser if they appreciated 
the unfathomable ignorance that prevails throughout our 
Orthodox population concerning the first principles of 
religious liberty. Fear of abolitionism drove the South into 
desperate revolt ; fear of ' infidelity ' is slowly but irresisti- 
bly driving the Church into a revolt as desperate, but more 
dangerous because masked behind forms of law. Whoever 
has learned that liberty is never safe under the same roof, 
nay, on the same continent, with ignorance, and has observed 
the dense ignorance of equal rights manifested by the 
Church in all its corporate action, will see that, so long as 
the Church has power over the minds of the majority, 
religious liberty even in America exists by sufferance alone." 

Says the Christian Staiesnian : 

" Since the Cincinnati Convention, the work has been 
prosecuted with increased interest and vigor. We have 
accounts from every quarter of meetings to hear the reports 
of delegates and ratify the resolutions of the Convention ; 
of public discussions in lyceums, colleges, and meetings for 
that purpose, and of a general demand for information on the 
subject." 

This telegram was published by the associated press : 

" NATIONAL CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. 

"Oberlin, O., May 21. — The National Christian Asso- 
ciation, opposed to secret societies, held a prayer meeting 



IS THIS A FALSE ALARM? 319 

this morning at the Second Congregational church, where its 
sessions are to be held. A large number of delegates are 
present. Prominent delegates declare it to be their belief 
that the association will make a nomination for the Presi- 
dency. The probable candidates are Grant, Greeley, 
Carpenter of Chicago, and J. Blanchard, of Wheaton, 111." 

Some of the best talent of the Churches is enlisted to 
secure the amendment. It is easier to make converts to the 
cause of God-recognition than to Christianity itself. 

The Boston Investigator received ojte thousand na7?ies on a 
protest from Davenport, Iowa. The Liberal Press opposed 
are the Present Age, Chicago ; Golden Age, New York ; 
Wood/mil &" Clafliiis, New , York ; American Spiritualist, 
New York ; Iowa Reforin Leader j Banner of Light, Boston ; 
Lyceum Banner, Chicago ; Religio-Philosophical Journal, 
Chicago ; also the Investigator and the Index. Several 
others, including German and Jewish papers, such as the 
Israelite, of Cincinnati, have done valiant service in exposing 
and opposing the schemes of the Clergy. But on the other 
side is a host of religious papers that favor it. Scores of 
secular papers also throw their influence in behalf of God- 
recognition. There is work to be done. As Mr. Abbot 
aptly expresses it : 

"We assume no defensive attitude. We are for carrying 
the war into Africa. We should spurn the proposal to leave 
things as they are, on condition that this Christian Amend- 
ment agitation should cease. No! We have demands to 
make." 

" The agitation they [Christians] depend on as a means 
of preserving the ' Christian observances ' which still deface 
the practical administration of this non-Christian govern- 
ment, will ultimately lead to their total abolition. Let them 
agitate. The struggle between Christianity and secular 
freedom for the control of this country is inevitable, and 
will only be hastened by agitation. While these revolution- 
ists are urging their demands, the liberals will more vigor- 
ously urge their own What are they .? 

" I. We demand that churches and other ecclesiastical 
property shall no longer be exempted from just taxation. 



320 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER, 

" 2. We demand that the employment of chaplains in 
Congress, in State legislatures, in the army, navy, and militia, 
and in prisons, asylums, and all other institutions supported 
by public money, shall be discontinued. 

" 3. We demand that all public appropriations for secta- 
rian educational and charitable institutions shall cease. 

" 4. We demand that all religious services now sustained 
by the government shall be abolished ; and especially that 
the use of the Bible in the public schools, whether ostensibly 
as a text-book or avowedly as a book of religious worship, 
shall be prohibited. 

" 5. We demand that the appointment, by the President 
of the United States, or by the Governors of the various 
States, of all religious festivals and fasts shall wholly cease. 

" 6. We demand that the judicial oath in the courts and 
in all other departments of the government shall be abolished, 
and that simple affirmation under the pains and penalties of 
perjury shall be established in its stead. 

" 7. We demand that all laws directly or indirectly 
enforcing the observance of Sunday as the Sabbath, shall be 
repealed. 

" 8. We demand that all laws looking to the enforcement 
of * Christian morality ' shall be abrogated, and that all laws 
shall be conformed to the requirements of natural morality, 
equal rights, and impartial liberty. 

" 9. In short, we demand that not only in the Constitu- 
tions of the United States and of the several States, but also 
in the practical administration of the same, no privilege or 
advantage shall be conceded to Christianity or any other 
special religion ; that our entire political system shall be 
founded and administered on a purely secular basis ; and 
that whatever changes shall prove necessary to this end shall 
be consistently, unflinchingly, and promptly made. 

" That is our reply to the audacious demands of the 
* National Reform Association.' Let the people decide 
which shall govern this country, Christian tyranny or secular 
freedom." 

I need not say more to show that this is no '"''false alar?n "/ 



XVI 



WHY THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION IS GODLESS. 

*' The great and direct end of government is liberty." — Patrick Henry. 

" I shall always respect that jealousy which arises from the love of public liberty." 
—Iredell. 

"Liberty is hunted with bloodhounds." — William Lloyd Garrison. 

" Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to con- 
science, above all liberties." — John Milton. 

" The people may increase their liberty while they dimin- 
ish their superstition." 

" The clergy, taken as a body, have always looked on it as 
their business to enforce belief, rather than encourage 
inquiry." 

" In England political freedom and religious scepticism 
have accompanied and aided each other." 

" The increase of the power of the clergy is incompatible 
with the interests of civilization. If, therefore, any religion 
adopts as its creed the necessity of such an increase, it 
becomes the bounden duty of every friend to humanity to 
do his utmost, either to destroy the creed, or, failing in that, 
to overturn the religion." 

" In France, the authority of the clergy was increased by , 
a superstitious king ; faith usurped the place of reason, not 
a whisper of doubt was allowed to be heard, and the spirit 
of inquiry was stifled, until the country fell to the brink of 
ruin." 

" The rebellion, thus raised by the zeal of the Protestants, 
was soon put down ; but, according to the confession of 
Rohan, one of the ablest of their leaders, it was the begin- 
ning of all their misfortunes. The sword had now been 
drawn ; and the only question to be decided was, whether 
France should be governed according to the principles of 
toleration recently established, [by the Catholics] or accord- 



322 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

ing to the maxims of a despotic sect, which, while professing 
to advocate the right of private judgment, was acting in a 
way that rendered all private judgment impossible." 

" An immense majority of the clergy, — some from ambi- 
tious feelings, but the greater part, I believe, from conscien- 
tious motives, — are striving to check the progress of that 
scepticism which is now gathering in upon us from every 
quarter." 

" Well-intentioned, though mistaken men." 

" How superficial is the opinion of those speculative wri- 
ters, who believe that the Protestant religion is necessarily 
more liberal than the Catholic. If those who adopt this 
view had taken the pains to study the history of Europe in 
its original sources, they would have learned that the liber- 
ality of every sect depends, not at all on its avowed tenets, 
but on the circumstances in which it is placed, and on the 
amount of authority possessed by its priesthood. The Prot- 
estant religion is, for the most part, more tolerant than the 
Catholic, simply because the events which have given rise to 
Protestantism have at the same time increased the play of 
the intellect, and therefore lessened the power of the clergy. 
But whoever has read the works of the great Calvinist divines, 
and, above all, whoever has studied their history, must know, 
that in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the desire of 
persecuting their opponents burnt as hotly among them, as 
it did among any of the Catholics even in the worst days of 
the papal dominion. This is a mere matter of fact, of which 
any one may satisfy himself, by consulting the original docu- 
ments of those times." 

" A powerful church, and a numerous clergy, are supposed 
to be the necessary guardians of religion, and every opposi- 
tion to whom is resented as an insult to the public morals." 

" When the human reason began to rebel, the position of 
the clergy was suddenly changed. They had been friendly 
to reasoning as long as the reasoning was on their side. 
While they were the only guardians of knowledge, they were 
eager to promote its interests. Now, however, it was falling 
from their hands : it was becoming possessed by laymen : it 
was becoming dangerous." 

" This, then, is the great starting-point of modern civili- 
zation. From the moment that reason began, however faintly, 
to assert its supremacy, the improvement of every people has 
depended upon their obedience to its dictates, and upon the 
success with which they have reduced to its standard the 
whole of their actions." 



GODLESS CONSTITUTION. 323 

'* How idle it is to ascribe the civilization to the creed ; 
and how worse than foolish are the attempts of government 
to protect a religion, which if suited to the people, will need 
no protection, and if unsuited to them, will work no good ! " 

" Many persons have been led into the singular error, of 
ascribing all modern enlightenment to the influence of Prot- 
estantism," 

" It is to the diffusion of knowledge, and to that alone, 
that we owe the comparative cessation of what is unques- 
tionably the greatest evil men have ever inflicted on their 
own species. For that religious persecution is a greater evil 
than any other, is apparent, not so much from the enormous 
and almost incredible number of its known victims, as from 
the fact that the unknown must be far more numerous." 

" Surely, then, we have reason to say, that, compared to 
this, all other crimes are of small account ; and we may well 
be grateful for that increase of intellectual pursuits, which 
has destroyed an evil that some among us would even now 
willingly restore." — Extracts from H. T. Buckle's History 
of Civilization in Eiigland. 

"Remarkable work on the 'History of Civilization.'" 
" Philosophical writer." " Devoted to liberal ideas." — Sena- 
tor Charles Stunner. 

In 1546 the Venetian ambassador at the court of the 
Emperor Charles V stated, in an official report to his own 
government on his return home, " that in Holland and Fries- 
land, more than thirty thousand persons have suffered death 
at the hands of justice for Anabaptist errors." — Correspond- 
ence of Charles V and his Ambassadors^ edited by William 
Bradford, London, 8vo, 1850, p. 471. 

The number of persons punished for heresy by the Inqui- 
sition in Spain during the eighteen years of Torquemada's 
ministry is more than one hundred and five thousand, accord- 
ing to the lowest estimate. Eight thousand and eight 
hundred were burned. — Prescotfs History of Ferdinand and 
Isabella^ vol. i. 

The Inquisition put to death two thousand Jews in Anda- 
lusia, in one year. Seventeen thousand besides "underwent 
some form of punishment less severe • than the stake." — 
Ticknors History of Spanish Literature^ vol. i, p. 410. 

In 1838, in Protestant Sweden there "is inquisition law, 
working in the hands of a Lutheran State-church, as strongly 
as in Spain and Portugal in the hands of a Roman Catholic 
church." — Laings Swede?!, p. 324. 

In Holland, even two hundred years ago, the clergy pos- 



324 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER 

sessed less power than in other countries ; and therefore, 
there existed an unusual amount of toleration. — Observations 
upon the United Provinces^ by Sir William Tefjiple, vol. i, 
pp. 157-162. 

In England Lord Eldon said in a speech in the House of 
Lords, in 1810, that " the enactments against the Catholics 
were meant to guard, not against the abstract opinions of 
their religion, but against the political dangers of a faith 
which acknowledged a foreign supremacy." — Twiss' Life of 
Eldoji^ vol. i, p. 435. 

Protestants have defended their persecution of Catholics 
upon political rather than religious grounds. — Somers Tracts, 
vol. i, pp. 189-208. 

" This is the stale pretence of the clergy in all countries, 
after they have solicited the government to make penal laws 
against those they call heretics or schismaticks, and prompted 
the magistrates to a vigorous execution, then they lay all the 
odium on the civil power ; for whom they have no excuse to 
allege, but that such men suffered, not for religion, but for 
disobedience to the laws." — Soj?ters Tracts, vol. xii, p. 534. 

" How much still remains to be done for freedom of 
thought ! " "A country [the American Union] that owes 
its almost miraculous material prosperity to its frank accept- 
ance of the idea that man can comprehend Nature and 
subjugate her to his use — a country that furnishes the most 
brilliant instance of the conquest of Nature by man, owes 
it to itself, and owes it to the world, to stand forth the 
Defender, and Protector of thought." — Draper ofi Civil 
Policy of America, p. 235. 

Even the clergy themselves, both Catholic and Protest- 
ant, admitted to De Tocqueville that " they mainly attributed 
the peaceful dominion of religion [in the United States] to 
the separation of Church and State y He says that during 
his stay in America he did not meet with a single individual, 
of the clergy or of the laity, who was not of the same opinion 
upon this point, — De Tocqueville' s Democracy in America, 
vol. I, p. 337. 

" Distinguished as almost all the legislators of the Union 
were for their intelligence, they were still more so for their 
patriotism." " They had the courage to say what they 
believed to be true, because they were animated by a warm 
and sincere love of liberty." — Democracy in America, vol. i, 
p. 162. 

The wise founders of our government knew of the horrible 



GODLESS CONSTITUTION. 



325 



religious persecutions in the American colonies as warnings 
against giving religion any power in the administration of 
the affairs of State. It does not seem necessary to present 
the details of American Colonial history to show how dread- 
ful was the reign of religious terror in America, when like 
enraged beasts Protestant Christians flew at each others' 
throats for the purpose of strangling heretical opinions. The 
spirit of persecution, so easily engendered by religion, is 
only latent, not extinct. A storm of religious passion would 
fan it into a fierce, devouring flame against Free Inquiry and 
Infidels. As Milman rightly observes, " intolerance seems 
inherent in the religious spirit." History proves that Liber- 
ty's worst enemy is Religion ! In the strict sense there is no 
such thing as " religious liberty " any more than there is 
slavish freedom. It was doubtless the clear perception of 
this fact which led the framers of our American Constitution 
to totally ignore religion in its construction. The history of 
all the religions shows that they have been a curse to the 
race. There is no exception made in favor of any religion. 
Christians admit the charge in all its force when applied to 
all systems except their ov/n. Protestants consider Roman 
Catholicism an enemy to the race, and Catholics unite in 
anathematizing heresy as the vilest thing invented by Satanic 
power. Truly, as remarks the great Henry Thomas Buckle, 
" in every sect, the clergy, as a body, have always been 
remarkable for their intolerance of opinions different to their 
own."* It cannot be that they are worse by nature than 
other men. It is chargeable to their religion. The same 
author affirms that " the Protestants, who professed to take 
their stand on the right of private judgment, became, early 
in the seventeenth century, more intolerant than the Catho- 
lics, who based their religion on the dictates of an infallible 
church." 

De Tocqueville says \\ "I think that the Catholic religion 

* " Civilization in England," vol. i. p. 397. 

\ Democracy in America, by A. De Tocqueville, vol. i, p. 328. 



326 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

has erroneously been looked upon as the natural enemy of 
Democracy in America." 

Wherever religion had power it has professed to befriend 
God by sucking the blood of human victims. It needs no 
long array of figures and authorities to prove what even a 
casual reader of history knows to be a fact, that the histories 
of religions are dripping with blood. Religion, with frown- 
ing front, has always opposed human progress. It was the 
Christian religion in 1793, and subsequently, that directed 
the English war with France, against doctrines and opinions^ 
"having for one of its main objects the discouragement of 
the Democratic sentiment among the people " — " a bitter war 
carried on against every kind of free discussion." There 
were vindictive punishments visited upon many of the best 
minds of the age. Many were fined, imprisoned or trans- 
ported, merely because they expressed their sentiments with 
freedom, and employed such language as is used by speakers 
of this day with impunity, and by writers for the public press. 
Bishop Horsley, a great champion of the English rulers, said 
in the House of Lords, in 1795, ^^"^ ^^ " ^i^ not know what 
the mass of the people in any country had to do with the 
laws, but to obey them." Certainly not, if God is the 
source of all power in civil government. The men who had 
a religion to back them, the men who ruled by " divine 
right," have always been arrayed against the liberties of the 
people, and the clergy have ever been the willing aiders and 
abettors of the ruling classes. The soul-sickening history of 
religion in the American colonies, together with the religious 
wars which scourged Europe, warned the founders of the 
American Republic to beware of the poisonous influence of 
religion, and they heeded the warning. Says one historian,* 
in speaking of the clause in the Constitution concerning 
religion : 

" The people of the United States were so fully aware of 
the evils which arise from the union of Church and State, 

* James Bayard " On the Constitution," 1833, p. 131. 



GODLESS CONSTITUTION. 327 

[in Other words, of religion and politics,] and so thoroughly- 
convinced of its corrupting influence, upon both religion 
and government, that they introduced this prohibition [against 
the union of religion with the State,] into the Fundamental 
Law." 

This fact has been from the first displeasing to the clergy. 
In 1833 this displeasure was still manifest. Mr. Bayard, in 
the same connection, adds : 

" It has been made an objection to the Constitution, by 
some, that it makes no mention of religion, contains no 
recognition of the existence and providence of God ; as 
though his authority were slighted or disregarded. [Mr. 
Bayard, while acknowledging the fact that there is no recog- 
nition, proceeds to argue that no slight was intended.] But 
such is not the reason of the omission. The convention 
which framed the Constitution comprised some of the wisest 
and best men in the nation ; [Is not this a sufflcient reason 
why they wished to have nothing to do with union of religion 
and state ?] men who were firmly persuaded, not only of the 
divine origin of the Christian religion, [?] but also of its 
importance to the temporal and eternal welfare of men ; [This 
is an admission in favor of the logic of the Church-and-State 
party ; if the Christian religion is a temporal blessing, why 
should its influence in government be dreaded .''] the people, 
too, of this country, were generally impressed with religious 
feelings, and followed, and acknowledged, the superintend- 
€ncy of God who had protected them through the perils of 
war, and blessed them in their exertions to obtain civil and 
religious freedom. But there were reasons why the intro- 
duction of religion into the Constitution would have been 
unseasonable, if not improper. 

" In the first place, it was intended exclusively for cwi7 pur- 
poses, and religion could not be mentioned because it made 
no part of the agreement between the parties. They were about 
to surrender a portion of their civil rights for the security of 
the remainder, but each retained his religious freedom, entire 
and untouched, as a matter between himself and his God, 
with which government could not interfere. But even if 
this reason had not existed, it would have been difficult, 
if not impossible, to use any expression on this subject 
which would have given general satisfaction. [When did 
Christian despotism ever give general satisfaction.?] The 



328 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

difference between the various sects of Christians is such, 
that while all have much in common, there are many points of 
variance ; [There is no quarrel with the historian's /(a;*:/^-, but 
when he speculates as to the probable causes of given events, 
he is frequently lost in a wilderness of conjecture ; for instance, 
" points of variance " are not a cause why God and religion 
were not recognized. In various countries the Christian 
religion was, and is, the religion of the State, notwithstand- 
ing " points of variance,"] so that in an instrument where all 
are entitled to equal consideration it would be difficult to use 
terms in which all could cordially join. [The modern Con- 
stitutional-God Christian has solved that difficulty.] Besides, 
the whole Constitution was a compromise, and it was fore- 
seen that it would meet with great opposition before it would 
be finally adopted. It was therefore important to restrict its 
provisions to things absolutely necessary, so as to give as 
little room as possible to cavil. Moreover, it was impossible 
to introduce into it even an expression of gratitude to the 
Almighty for the formation of the principles of the govern- 
ment ; for when the Constitution was framed, and submitted 
to the people, it was entirely uncertain whether it would ever 
be ratified ; and the government might, therefore, never be 
established." [And was the instrument more readily w^el- 
comed without a recognition of God than with it, by a people 
who believed in him ; a people, says Mr. Bayard, who were 
" generally impressed with religious feelings " .?] 

" The prohibition of any religious test for office was wise,. 
[Yes, Mr. Bayard, and we have Infidels, not Christians, to 
thank for it,] because its admission would lead to hypocrisy 
and corruption. [When were Christians ever known to hesi- 
tate, as a body, in securing special privileges on that account.?] 
The purity of religion is best preserved by keeping it sepa- 
rate from government ; [which is good for the government,] 
and the surest means of giving to it its proper influence 
in society, is by the dissemination of correct priciples, 
through the medium of education. The experience of this 
country has proved that religion may flourish in all its vigor 
and purity, without the aid of a national establishment, and 
the religious feeling of a community is the best guarantee for 
the religious administration of the government." 

Under the head of "Rights of Conscience," Mr. Bayard 
says : 

" By the first article it is declared that Congress shall make 



GODLESS CONSTITUTION. 329 

no law respecting an establishment of religion * * 

* * ■«:*** -pj^g imposition of any 

' religious test ' had already been prohibited by the Consti- 
tution, and nothing in it could be construed to invest the gov- 
ernment with a right to interfere in matters of religion. But 
such was the solicitude of the people 07i this point; [I italicize 
this sentence] such their sense of the evils of a national 
religious establishment, and their determination to preserve 
the utmost freedom of conscience ; that it was deemed proper 
thus to deprive Congress of alt pretense for ever attempting 
to legislate upon this subject." 

On page 134 he says : 

" From the nature of the new government, possessed of 
only limited powers, granted by a written instrument, it 
could not have gone beyond the prescribed limits, even if 
these express restrictions had not been imposed; but the 
anxiety of the people to secure their liberty against every ifiva- 
sio7Z, would not perinit them to leave any room for doubt 
on this subjects 

Such was the care which revolutionary heroes took to 
secure themselves and their posterity against the corrupting 
influences of religion.* But the people of to-day are 
fondling religion and petting its priests. The descendants 
have been made to believe that religion (which their ances- 
tors could not trust,) is both safe and beneficial to society. 
The priesthood have been actively at work, educating the 
people to make religion paramount to patriotism ; to relax 
their vigilant guardianship of liberty; and, finally, to sur- 
render it into the keeping of the " Servants of God. " Our 
liberty-loving revolutionary heroes were extremely anxious 
to render religion powerless in the State. They succeeded. 
And now these ministers of a Jewish-Jehovah-Christian- 
God are striving to retrieve a lost cause by making religion 
mistress of the State. Because I know the power of these 

* For more copious references in regard to the great caution which the 
founders of our government exercised in keeping the State free from 
religion, the reader is directed to the " Federalist, " " Kent's Commenta- 
ries," and " Story's Commentaries on the Constitution," 



330 THE CLERGY A SOURCE OF DANGER. 

men I make this earnest apj^eal to my fellow-countrymen to 
prepare for the approaching religious tornado which will 
sweep over this continent, and which will undoubtedly 
uproot, here and there, in its wide and destructive course, 
the Democratic principles that King George's "rebels" 
labored so assiduously to plant. He is blind who cannot see 
that the influence of the clergy is great enough to inaugurate 
a stupendous revolution. Well has that noted reformer, 
Stephen S. Foster, said, " The ear of the nation is open to 
them every seventh day of the week, when they pour into it 
just such sentiments as they choose. And not only are they 
in direct and constant contact with the people in their 
public ministrations, but in their parochial visits, at the sick 
bed, at weddings, and at funerals ; all of which are occasions 
when the mind is peculiarly tender, and susceptible of deep 
and lasting impressions." 

"Their whole time is devoted to the work of moulding and 
giving character to public sentiment ; and with the advan- 
tages which they enjoy over all other classes of society, of 
leisure, the sanctity of their office, and direct and constant 
contact with the people, as their 'spiritual guides,' their 
power has become all-controlling. It is, in a finite sense, 
omnipresent in every section of the country, and is abso- 
lutely irresistible wherever their claims are allowed." 

It was this class of men, the clergy, that the framers of the 
Constitution were unwilling to trust. They were not even 
willing to confide in the liberal sentiment of the country. 
When Mr. Pinckney, in the Constitutional Convention, 
moved to add to the article, — 

" But no religious test shall be required as a qualification 
to any office or public trust under the authority of the 
United States. 

" Mr. Sherman thought it unnecessary, the prevailing liber- 
ality being a sufficient guaranty against such tests.* " 

The "no religious test" prevailed. Thomas Jefferson, 
* Madison Papers, vol. v, p. 498. 



GODLESS CONSTITUTION. 33 I 

under date of February 7, 1778, wrote from Paris, in a 
private letter to a gentleman in Virginia, which Patrick 
Henry saw,* and which contained these statements : 

" I wish, with all my soul, that the nine first conventions 
may accept the new constitution, because this will secure to 
us the good it contains, which I think great and important. 
But I equally wish that the four latest conventions, whichever 
they may be, may refuse to accede to it till a declaration of 
rights be annexed. This would probably command the offer 
of such a declaration, and thus give to the whole fabric, 
perhaps, as much perfection as any one of that kind ever 
had." 

One of the first rights mentioned by Jefferson was the 
right of the people to have a purely secular government. 

Because my fellow-citizens feel comparatively safe from 
reHgious oppression, and because I know, from years of 
study, observation and travel, that a more serious danger 
never threatened the existence of our American Republic 
than the Christian religion, in the hands of the Christian 
Clergy, I have endeavored, by facts and arguments in this 
volume, to keep alive in the breast of every American, native 
and adopted, the old love for this noble Union. May it ever 
prove a home for the religiously and politically down-trodden 
of other nations. Our country is gloriously free. Let us 
keep it so by resisting the earliest indications of clerical 
interference with the affairs of State. 

* History of the Constitution of the United States, by George Ticknor 
Curtis, Vol. ii, p. 562. 



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the allied questions. It is cravuned zvith information of all kinds bearing 
on the general issues ; and every page burns with intense earnestness. — 
Free Religious Index., Nov. id, 1872. 

A meaty volume, a remarkable book, Mr. Jamieson writes with earn- 
estness and fervor. We commend the book to the widest possible perusal, 
believing that it is singularly calculated to open mens eyes and do their 
souls permanent good. — Banner of Light, Oct. 12., 1872. 

Interesting, valuable and timely. It abounds with important facts. 
IVo more i7nportant volu?ne has been issued from the press for many years. 
— Bosto7i Investigator, Oct. .?, 1872. 

THE RELIGIOUS PRESS IS SILENT ! SIGNIF- 
ICANT ! 
THE LIBERAL PRESS IS REJOICING. 



BOOKS! BOOKS! 

LOIS WAISBROOKER'S WORKS. 

ALICE VALE, Price $1.25, 254 Pages. 



HELEN HARLOW'S VOW, Price $1.50, 290 Pages. 

" And have you no pity for the ruined Hfe of the girl that you confess 
you love" asked Reid, speaking seriously for the first time. 

" I have, Will ; but that which cannot stand the test must fall. That's 
my doctrine." 

" I hope you will be able to abide by it then," said a steady voice close 
by his side. 

" My God, Helen !" exclaimed Granger, starting to his feet, " you here ?" 

" I am here, sir — ^liere to thank you for the lesson you have taught me. 
It is a poor rule that won't work both ways. If a woman that can be 
flattered by one man before marriage, can be flattered by another after 
marriage, a man that will flatter, lie to one woman before marriage, will 
lie to her and flatter others after marriage, and I want a man that I can 
trust **'J5-******** 

" You pity my ruined condition, but those who cannot stand must fall" 
she continued, fixing her clear gray eye upon his with a gaze that held 
them. " I want none of your pity, sir." And hear me, Edward Granger; 
there is no one man that can drag me down. 

" No, sir, I am not ruined ; no woman is ruined unless she thinks so. 
And I here swear in the presence of high Heaven that I will not sink ; 
that even with the additional burden you have imposed upon me, I will 
rise higher than you can ever hope to rise, and my child shall, take a 
higher position than any child born of an unloving; heartless woman, with 
you for its father, can possibly reach." 

And turning frorti them, she walked away with the air of a queen by 
Nature's right, instead of taking the position Granger had expected, — 
that of a wronged woman, seeking justice, recognition through marriage 
with her betrayer." — Helen Harlow s Vow. 

MAY WEED BLOSSOMS, Price $1.25, 264 Pages. 

No better books can be found for general reading. 

THE THREE SENT BY MAIL FOR FOUR DOLLARS. 



Address 

The AUTHORESS, 

Battle Creek, Mich. 



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